In doing research for my next book (How to Raise a Healthy Human) I sat down to read the highly acclaimed bestseller by my friend and colleague Jennifer Margulis, Your Baby, Your Way. Originally published in 2013 as The Business of Baby, it is as relevant today as it was a decade ago, except the situation has got even worse. This should be required reading for any imminent parent.
Jennifer is an investigative journalist of the highest caliber so it reads like an expose of the whole industry around pre-natal care, giving birth and the first year of life with all those well-baby visits. Interwoven with her personal experiences she incorporates in-depth interviews with parents, doctors, nurses, mid-wives and scientists plus her own rigorous research.
The narrative zips along quickly with each chapter focusing on one element of this critical two-year period from inception to baby’s first birthday. The personal stories keep you riveted while the science and commentary opens your eyes. It may even raise your blood pressure a bit, especially those of you whose children are older and looking back you’re now seeing the business side of having babies likely undermined optimal care.
Chapter 1 gets right into the whole approach to pre-natal care with all the testing, limited nutritional counseling and treating pregnant women as if there is something wrong with them. Chapter 2 goes into the dangers of ultrasound, it’s title aptly named: Sonic Boom. From there the book delves into the details of childbirth and how the US falls far short of other developed nations exhibiting both higher maternal mortality rates and worse infant outcomes. The comparison to various countries in Europe is a helpful discussion of the options open to all parents such as home-births and mid-wives. One doctor’s quote sums up part of the problem: “Normal pregnancy and labor is not a medical problem so why are highly trained medical specialists dealing with normal birth?”.
Formula and diapers each get in-depth treatment emphasizing the corporate profits that drive the marketing messages and hospital protocols. Early-childhood vaccines also get a whole chapter with a discussion of how corporate interests overlook the clear facts of how an infant’s body actually works. It is undisputed that a baby’s immune system isn’t mature enough until at least a year or even two-years old to mount a full response and “remember” any disease through developing antibodies. If delaying (or avoiding) this intervention is your key takeaway the book will have paid for itself 10-fold in better health for your child.
Wrapping up with broader aspects of well-baby visits (growth charts and the perils of Pedialyte) plus a look to the future, this book empowers parents with information and an appendix full of resources. The last line sums it up well “Though our tendency is to defer to the doctors and others in the medical establishment, as well as to the businesses that make products to sell to our babies, it is we parents, and our babies, who actually know best”.
