Category: Reviews by MM

  • FLRF/Medela Post

    My previous post, Friends of the WHO Code? set out the facts re the Family Larsson Rosenquist Foundation as I understand them, and I have had no contradictions or corrections. (I will report any, of course, in public posts, as I believe strongly that private groups discussing this issue misleads good people, and creates needless confusion…

  • Friends of the WHO Code?

    I sometimes wonder why good sense is called common sense, when it seems to be relatively rare in some places.  Take for example some of that minority who insist that no one should, for example,   read literature created or published by commercial interests (other than their own, or their friends); attend or speak at conferences…

  • Tuteur-Minchin Debate Outline

    WHY A TIMELINE? In my opinion, in an era of fake news and online hatred, Amy Tuteur (AT), the so-called Skeptical Obstetrician, and author of Push Back: Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting, is undermining public health efforts, and I suspect, profiting from doing so. Personally, as a result of her behaviour, I consider…

  • Tuteur Push Back: Minchin Review

    Push Back. Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting by Amy Tuteur. (HarperCollins NY 2016) INTRODUCTION I find it extraordinary for any medical doctor to have written a book containing such sweeping generalisations, allegations of vile motives by other health professionals, and minimally researched, provably untrue, and defamatory, assertions. Sadly, it is no longer rare…

  • 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…

  • Tuteur debate: Minchin 1

    PREAMBLE FOR ANY SPECTATORS It is because infant feeding is such a powerful issue, and so important to global health, that I agreed to spend the time on this question set by Amy Tuteur, and to create a time-stamped secure permanent record on a dedicated website for future reference by historians of the “the Mommy…

  • 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…

  • Tuteur/Minchin debate procedure

    Debate procedure Maureen Minchin will follow This process has been independently designed after consulting tech experts to maximise accountability, minimise pointless emotive conflict, clearly delineate what is included and what is not, and create an independent record of all contributions. I am satisfied that the time spent on specialist consultation should achieve the end result of a…

  • Tuteur Debate Update: Progress?

    An Update: The Skeptical Obstetrician, and her challenge to ‘debate’. What has happened so far. March 3,  2019.  Dr Amy Tuteur intruded rudely on my Facebook page to challenge me to a debate – as she has challenged other breastfeeding advocates, individuals and groups. (Who sensibly refuse to engage with her.)  I agreed to consider…

  • Agreed Rules and Common Ground for Tuteur debate

    PROCEDURAL MATTERS FOR THE DEBATE Can you agree to these Rules for the debate, Amy Tuteur? Unless you do, I will not go ahead over the three days. As repeatedly stated from March onwards, I am not willing to have the debate hosted on Facebook, your page or mine, or any page you set up…

  • 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…

  • 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’…

  • 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…

  • Hard to swallow: a book review

    Swallow This: serving up the food industry’s darkest secrets by Joanna Blythman (Fourth Estate London 2015) There are many interesting books on food. There are few fascinating detailed readable ones on food processing. This one is a must read for those feeling brave or curious. It is not a reassuring one for those who believe that…

  • Overselling infant formula: Lactivism

    Definitely Overselling Infant Formula:                                                  Lactivism by Courtney Jung           An overdue  review Professor Courtney Jung’s Lactivism is sensationally subtitled: how feminists and fundamentalists, hippies and yuppies, and…

  • Breast intentions: a quick review

              Well, I’ve now read every page of Allison Dixley’s Breast Intentions: how women sabotage breastfeeding for themselves and others, highlighter and pen in hand. And then I read all the reviews I found online, both by people who understood what she was saying, and other people who clearly misrepresented what I…