I wrote this in response to a private e-mail from someone expressing some of
the same concerns about my "attack on doctors" as Elizabeth Peyton (think I
got that name correct).  I am posting it here also at I think it may be
helpful to see where I am coming from:


Thanks for writing *****.  I know I come across as zealous at times.  I
happen to live in a community with a higher than normal proportion of jerks
for doctors ("Anyone who breastfeeds for more than 6 months is doing it for
her own sexual pleasure and needs counselling" from one; another testified
at a divorce/custody hearing that breastfeeding a 3.5 year old was actively
harmful to the child's health b/c it would lead to cavities, iron
deficiency, and poor growth as evidenced by the fact that the child was only
at the 25th percentile of the standards for her age; another refused to let
the mother of preemie twins give them breast milk by feeding tube because it
would "cause" necrotizing enterocolitis).  The local breastfeeding classes
in one of the hospitals are given by the formula marketing rep (with of
course the knowledge of the doctors and the hospital).  One pediatrics group
refuses to refer patients to La Leche League, but won't help them with their
breastfeeding problems.  All of the local pediatricians' offices have offers
for free formula sitting on every available surface.  I do know that we have
some real lu-lus here, and I should remember that that colors my impressions.
        I also serve as a faculty mentor to second year medical students at
the Texas A&M Medical School Leadership in Medicine program, though, and I
hear plenty from my mentees about the greed of their fellow students.
Students who choose me for a mentor tend to come pro-breastfeeding already,
as they choose a mentor based on descriptions of our research interests.  My
mentee last year was a wonderful rabble-rouser/fire-brand who got the
medical school to establish maternity/paternity leave for medical students
-- imagine that!  She told me, and of course I can't prove it, but had no
reason to doubt it, that many of her fellow students openly talked about how
much money they were going to make off of formula-fed babies, and made fun
of her when she tried to tell them things she had learned from me, b/c of
course they knew that breast milk was "better for babies but bad for docs."
Sorry to be so cynical, but I have seen/heard a lot of this sort of thing in
this town.  Of course, students at Texas A&M tend to be extremely right-wing
conservative money-hungry automatons anyway, so maybe it's just a reflection
of the general student body.  Please no flames for the anti-Aggie remarks
from former Ags.








Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Texas A&M University
e-mail to [log in to unmask]