Dear Martha Stewart,
        I am a big fan of yours, and love reading your ideas about home
decorating, cooking, and entertaining, and seeing you on TV.  However, your
recent column about baby showers incorporating pacifiers and bottles was
very puzzling.  While I realize health is not your main concern, you surely
must be aware that infant formula and baby bottles are major health risks
for mothers and babies. The over-use of pacifiers has been linked through
research to shortened durations of breastfeeding and to lower IQ scores in
children (children who use pacifiers a lot don't breathe normally and may
become oxygen deprived, plus they tend to zone-out and not interact with
others).  Instead of assuming that every woman will bottle-feed her child
and use a pacifier, why don't you promote the healthier alternative, which
is breastfeeding.  Frankly, I can't think of any cute ideas for
incorporating breastfeeding into a baby shower.  Probably because (1) I'm
not Martha Stewart and (2) breastfeeding doesn't require any accessories --
all it takes is a baby and a breast.
        I would appreciate your future sensitivity to health issues.


Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University