I am often disheartened by the way other parents view things. It's not that they're bad or malicious. It's that misinformation is so rampant, and people these days equate any attempt to educate, as judgment. Then add to that, that so many people are so much more concerned with defending their choices, than making good ones in the future, and the cycle just continues on and on. The day that information becomes cool, and people are not afraid to be taken out of their comfort zones, and objectivity becomes mainstream, we will see major steps in a better direction.
Here are some FACTS about some important parenting issues:
On birth:
-C-sections carry a 4x higher risk of death for mother and baby than any vaginal birth.
-Every intervention that exists carries some risk.
-Every hospital in the US has time limits on how long a mom can labor, and many have policies on what interventions they do routinely, such as monitors and IV's. These things DO impact the progress of labor.
-IV fluids during labor have been shown to make breastfeeding more difficult due to latch issues from engorged tissue.
-Epidurals are associated with a slowed progress of labor.
-Often, one intervention leads to another.
-Cytotec inductions have killed hundreds of women and babies.
-The World Health Organization has stated time and time again that homebirth with a trained midwife is at least as safe as hospital birth for low risk women and full term babies.
-When you homebirth, you are not without help if something goes wrong. Midwives are trained for YEARS before they practice on their own, so that they will know what to do when things go wrong.
-US C-section rates are 3x higher than the World Health Organization thinks they should be. This is often attributed to the amount of intervention that is done in hospital births.
-The US has some of the most interventionist obstetrical customs in the world, and one of the worst maternal/infant outcomes in the industrialized world. Coincidence? You decide.
-A cord around the neck is not indication for a c-section.
-Uncommon presentations (sunny side up, breech, brow presentation, etc) are not automatically indication for c-section either.
-ACOG does not consider women to be postdates until after 42 weeks, so a doctor who induces for postdates before 42 weeks, is going against the recommendation of his/her own professional organization.
-Even so, there is no great increase in mortality or morbidity at 42 weeks, although there is a slight uptick at 43. Some midwives are working to get ACOG to adjust its definition of postdates to 43 weeks.
-True cases of cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD, a "too big" baby) are pretty much unheard of in the industrialized world. If you have never suffered malnutrition, or applicable severe injury or disease, and you were told by your doctor that your baby was too big, he/she was probably wrong. If it's because they wouldn't come out when you were laboring on your back, the position is the problem, not the baby, and not you. The pelvic opening is the narrowest in the lithotomy position that most American women are forced to birth in.
Vaccines:
-The number of vaccines children receive today is double the amount we received growing up in the 80's.
-Vaccines contain additives such as lead, formaldehyde, and other known carcinogens and toxins.
-Many of the diseases we vaccinate against are not generally deadly. Chicken pox, measles, and mumps, just to name a few.
-A breastfed baby has immunity to any disease his mother has antibodies against, for as long as he gets most of his nutrition from breastmilk.
-Vaccine injury is real, and it happens thousands of times a year. Sometimes it is mild and temporary, like a rash. Sometimes it is severe and debilitating for life, like fibromyalgia. Sometimes it is death.
-Doctors are often compensated by the vaccine manufacturers for how many doses they can administer.
Circumcision:
-Circumcision rates are falling nationwide. Most boys in our sons' generation are intact.
-There is no way to properly anesthetize a baby and have him still be awake, and general anesthesia is too risky at such a young age. All babies undergoing circumcision feel pain, a lot of pain. A study done in Toronto on the stress hormone and brain wave patterns of babies during circumcision, was discontinued for ethics reasons. The findings were that telling.
-Over 100 babies in the US die of complications from circumcision every year.
-A study in Finland showed that only six out of one thousand intact males will require medically necessary circumcision later in life. That's 0.6%.
-Most problems that can necessitate circumcision later in life are caused by improper care as an infant or child. Learn proper intact care at www.drmomma.org.
-Circumcision rose to popularity in the US as a cure for masturbation. (Please google "Dr. Kellogg on circumcision" if you doubt me.)
-The US Navy released a study last month which showed NO correlation between STD transmission and circumcision status.
Carseats:
-A rear-facing passenger is 5x safer than a forward-facing passenger because she shell of the carseat absorbs nearly all of the crash forces, especially in front or side impact.
-96% of crashes with injury are front or side impact.
-There has never been a documented case of broken legs due to rear-facing. Broken limbs are far more common among forward-facing passengers, who are flung against the front seats on impact.
-In Sweden, where children rear-face to at least 3 years old, often 5 or 6, child traffic fatalities are nearly unheard of. In the US, where our laws only require rear-facing for one year, traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death for children under 14.
-There are seats on the US market that will keep even the tallest kid on the block rear-facing until at least 2, probably longer. You won't find them in your neighborhood Walmart store, but they exist.
-Most pediatricians are not Child Passenger Safety Technicians, and there is absolutely NOTHING taught in medical school about carseat safety. When your pediatrician advises on the subject, he/she is more than likely advising you based on his/her own views as a parent.
-The law DOES NOT say that you have to turn your child around at a year old and 20 pounds. It says that at that point, it becomes your choice.
Breastfeeding:
-Breastmilk is THE biologically appropriate food for human babies. This is why breastfed babies have fewer health issues.
-Moms who breastfeed for at least two years reduce their risk of breast cancer by 57%.
-Formula fed babies have a higher risk of SIDS than breastfed babies.
-Formula fed babies have statistically lower IQ's than breastfed babies.
-Formula feeding is associated with obesity, diabetes, and other health problems later in life.
-97% of the women in the world are totally capable of breastfeeding.
-The World Health Organization ranks baby feeding methods as follows:
1) Breastmilk directly from the breast
2) The baby's mother's own breastmilk in a bottle
3) The milk of another human mother
4) Formula
These are facts. To me, the facts present a very clear standard to aim for in parenting. Does that mean I do everything perfectly? No way. However, it is only because I am not defensive about the things I have done in the past that were not the best, that I am able to consistently improve, and keep getting closer and closer to the standard I have set for myself. In all but one of these areas, I have been flawed. I have never cut a baby, but I have failed at breastfeeding twice, had one crappy birth, forward-faced one baby at a year, and fully vaccinated one. Only when we realize that we don't always know best, can we move into more progressive ways of thinking, and act accordingly. Most activists I know have really screwed up a time or two. That's how they (we) end up so vocal about this stuff in the first place. It isn't because we think we're perfect parents. It's because we're not.
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