This book made me wish that I could have a mulligan for having my sons. Perhaps my older son wouldn’t have gone into fetal distress during my labor with him after the doctor broke my water. Perhaps he wouldn’t have had meconium in his lungs and had an APGAR of 5/9. Perhaps I wouldn’t have almost had an emergency C-section. Perhaps he wouldn’t have had so many of the health issues that I’ve recovered him from, most notably Sensory Processing Disorder, and other problems like severe developmental delays.
When I was on the way to becoming a new parent, I was like most people out there, who assume that doctors and the healthcare system are looking out for us and have our best interests at heart.
Jennifer (Dr. Margulis, PhD) shows us how this just isn’t so. She shows us how pharmaceutical companies and medical-insurance companies are not only shaping for the worse what our healthcare choices are but also how there is a revolving door between them and federal government that drives federal healthcare policy.
You and I are looked at as long-term profit centers by the healthcare industry. Food and prevention don’t make a lot of profit, so they’re ignored. I love Jennifer’s quote, “You won’t see a farmer going to a doctor’s office with free kale in the hopes of getting pregnant patients hooked”.
This book will give you the knowledge and the confidence to stand up to medical authority figures, whom we automatically assume know more about our baby’s well-being than we parents do. They don’t. You do. You are the parent. You spend 24 hours a day with that baby. You know him or her better than anyone. Educate yourself, and one of the ways to do so is by reading this book.
In this book, you’ll discover how many of the common practices in pregnancy, childbirth and infant care are driven, many times without safety studies, to keep you and your baby as a profit center. You’ll learn what I believe is a fair and balanced approach to issues (I’ve spent a lot of time researching these issues myself) such as:
- Ultrasound monitoring
- Fetal monitoring during labor
- The role of midwifery
- Fetal induction and its role in emergency Caesarean sections
- Caesarean sections and why the rate has risen to 33% from 5%
- Cord clamping
- Newborn bathing
- Circumcision
- Formula feeding vs. breastfeeding
- Plastic diapers vs. cloth diapers vs. no diapers
- Infant pottying
Many of these (with the exception of midwifery and infant pottying) are standard practice because they make it more convenient and efficient for the medical system (read: higher profit), not because they lead to a healthier outcome for the mother and baby. If they do, then why does the United States rank so low when it comes to maternal and infant mortality?
Dr. Margulis also show us how many of these practices lead to long-term health problems, which creates a virtuous cycle for the heathcare industry, particularly pharmaceutical companies.
The book is an easy and enjoyable read because it’s peppered with real-world stories and interviews of both parents and doctors, yet it’s not a fluffy book. It’s loaded with facts and arguments that will help you understand both sides of the story so that you can make your own informed opinion.
I highly recommend this book, especially to women who are considering getting pregnant or who are pregnant.
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