The Skeptical OB

Financial conflicts of interest loom large in our evaluation of research and they should. But financial conflicts of interest are not limited to the impact of big corporations. It is easy to understand how formula companies might represent a major conflict of interest in research about the benefits of breastfeeding; no one has any trouble […]

Natural mothering advocates employ affirmations as a form of magical thinking. They appear to believe that if they just wish hard enough, they can affect the likelihood of the unmedicated vaginal birth that they are supposed to want or the success of the breastfeeding relationship they’re supposed to desire. That’s nonsense, of course. But such […]

There’s a new paper on breastfeeding and IQ. Is breast feeding associated with offspring IQ at age 5? Findings from prospective cohort: Lifestyle During Pregnancy Study yielded surprising results: In multivariable linear regression analyses adjusted for potential confounders breast feeding was associated with child IQ at 5 years (categorical χ2 test for overall association p=0.03). […]

One of the most amazing traits of human beings is the ability to empathize with others. We don’t have to lose a parent to imagine how devastating the loss of a parent could be and therefore we offer our support. We don’t have to experience a divorce to imagine how devastating the end of a […]