This 4 minute interview came after doing a talk at a Medela conference. I asked to speak at the conference, and the speaker fee was donated to charity, as Medela makes infant-feeding related goods, and is a commercial entity. However, the talk enabled me to reach a wider audience than those who usually come for local breastfeeding conferences. My message … Read More
Tuteur debate: Minchin 3
TUTEUR MINCHIN DEBATE MINCHIN 3: A REPLY TO TUTEUR 2 Thanks to an onlooker, I received a copy of Amy Tuteur MD’s latest reply, which I discovered online at 12.30pm today June 21. It is not a reply addressed to me, but to her supporters. It is they who matter. And to them I say that in my opinion, AT has … Read More
Tuteur debate: Minchin 2
Tuteur debate: Minchin 2 is a two part reply for the historical record. It is in two parts. The first annotates what Amy Tuteur posted online on her Facebook page. The second part is a critique of her reply (Tuteur 1) to Minchin 1. Get a cuppa or a glass of wine and read on. See if you agree … Read More
Why am I (still) debating Amy Tuteur?
As you wait for my reply to her question, to be posted tonight at midnight, here’s an answer to a question I am being asked. Why would anyone persist through so many unilateral changes ot procedure and topic as Amy has tried to create, though so much rudeness and scorn from her? Well may you ask. I certainly didn’t intend … Read More
The Bottle, the Breast and the State: Oakley review
The Bottle the Breast and the State. The politics of infant feeding in the United States. By Maureen Rand Oakley. (Lexington Books 2015) I like this book, which should be read by those in mother support, breastfeeding advocacy and feminist academia with the time to do so. I support Oakley’s approach, as I welcome any book which urges feminists to work for … Read More
MILK: THE BIOLOGY OF LACTATION
MILK: THE BIOLOGY OF LACTATION by Michael L Power and Jay Schulkin (Johns Hopkins Press, 2016) This relatively small book aims to inform, stimulate and even challenge thought about milk and lactation, its evolution, and its importance to modern life. It achieves those aims. The structure is clear, the authors adhere to it, and summarise succinctly at the end of … Read More
Why are we getting so fat? a letter to Prof Giles Yeo
Dear Prof Yeo, I enjoyed the SBS-screened documentary, Why are we getting so fat? It was great to see an academic getting out to where people are, and listening. I would really like to make a time to chat by skype or meet when in the UK on a lecture tour. You just might listen to what I have to … Read More
ELF Feeds: a fairy story analysed: part 1
EARLY LIMITED FORMULA FEEDS: A FAIRY STORY ANALYSED (from Milk Matters, p.113-6) [Another post will comment on this group’s newest published research asap.] … a tiny study of just forty mothers336 may have persuaded some (who didn’t read it carefully) that infant formula is harmless, even beneficial, because it supports maternal breastfeeding…. The study authors’ conclusion: giving early limited formula … Read More
Milk Fats and Fantasies: MFGMs
In some ways formula has come full circle. The 1980s banishing of “animal fats” is now seen by some scientists as a mistake. Companies are likely to reintroduce processed milk fat in formulas where it presently does not exist. Of course bovine and human milk fats are not identical[ii], as calves have different needs from babies. As they have for … Read More
Intolerant Bodies: a history of immune research
Intolerant bodies: a history of auto immunity. Anderson W, Mackay IR. (Johns Hopkins Press 2014) A focussed partial review and commentary.. This readable and illuminating text by an historian and an immunologist outlines the historical process of uncovering the workings of the immune system. Finding this book was for me finding a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is … Read More
FOUR MONTHS OR SIX OR NEITHER? when to widen the milk diet.
What follows is an excerpt from my latest book, Milk matters: infant feeding and immune disorder. It is much easier to read in the book itself, which also deals with practical matters related to this issue. Copying the text from an In Design file to this version has been a time-wasting nightmare, and there will be typos: please read the book…. … Read More