Tag: breastfeeding

Seizure Medications Safer Than Previously Thought for Breastfed Babies

A new study, recently published in JAMA Neurology, further supports the safety of breastfeeding while taking medications for epilepsy. But there are a couple caveats to be aware of.

/ January 10, 2020

Lactation cookies feed on breastfeeding anxieties

There’s little good evidence to say "lactation cookies" do anything at all. If you want cookies, eat cookies. Lactation cookies are an expensive scam.

/ June 13, 2019

Breastfeeding Improvement Initiatives May Increase Risk of Newborn Falls

Newborn falls during the postpartum period are a serious potential adverse event and are almost always a result of maternal fatigue. There is reason to be concerned that well-meaning but overzealous promotion of breastfeeding may increase the risk.

/ January 11, 2019

A Nuanced View on Breast vs Formula

While there is strong evidence that breast is best, a new study suggests that the benefits have been overstated, and may be mostly due to non-specific factors such as better education and overall health care.

/ September 26, 2018

It doesn’t have to hurt: Strategies to reduce vaccine pain

To address anti-vaccine views, try to understand the underlying motives for these perspectives. Some reject vaccines because of underlying fears of the pain of vaccination. Several strategies can effectively decrease vaccine pain.

/ March 8, 2018

Efforts to Encourage Breastfeeding Like the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) May Have Unintended Consequences

“Breast is best,” but current efforts to increase the rate of breastfeeding may be misguided. A recent article in JAMA Pediatrics by pediatricians Joel Bass, Tina Gartley, and Ronald Kleinman is titled “Unintended Consequences of Current Breastfeeding Initiatives.” They criticize the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), saying “there is now emerging evidence that full compliance…may inadvertently be promoting potentially hazardous practices and/or having...

/ August 30, 2016

Questioning the Evidence for Breastfeeding

Is breast best? Yes, but it's really not much better than formula in the United States. The better you account for confounding factors, the more benefits of breastfeeding disappear.

/ April 19, 2016

Kangaroo Mother Care, Skin-To-Skin Contact, and the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Postnatal Collapse

In January, a study published in Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ flagship peer-reviewed journal, presented evidence in support of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) and its primary intervention: prolonged skin-to-skin contact (SSC) between a mother and her newborn child. I was originally asked to discuss this report at the time by the editors of The Scientific Parent, which is a great resource...

/ February 12, 2016

Separating Fact From Fiction in the Not-So-Normal Newborn Nursery: Pacifiers and Nipple Confusion

My first “real world” employment after completing residency was as a full-time newborn hospitalist in Houston. After spending three years in Space City, often rounding on as many as 30 newborn infants in the Level 1 and Level 2 units each day at the county hospital, I feel as if I’ve probably about seen it all when it comes to the nursery....

/ September 27, 2013

I Am Not Your Enemy: An Open Letter to My Feminist Critics

Note: The previous post is my usual weekly contribution to SBM. I am taking the liberty of posting this additional entry today on an issue that is peripheral to Science Based Medicine. If you are not interested in the recent squabbles within the skeptical movement, you will probably want to skip it. But it does respond to a detailed critique of an...

/ February 19, 2013