“Gosh, You’re a Big Fella” and Other Manifestations of My Privilege



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9th Turkey Awards: Obesity Eugenics Media Campaigns

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A fairly recent article in an Australian newspaper ─ October 2016 ─ had the inflammatory headline, " Call to stop obese women from having babies. " The picture below it featured a woman with a slight double chin and said, " Experts warn obese women should not have children. " Well, here we go again with the Obesity Eugenics Wars. This incredibly discriminatory movement is the winner of not one but two Turkey Awards. It's time to call these egregious practices out. If you aren't familiar with them, the Turkey Awards are the "prizes" I hand out to highlight fat-phobic treatment of people of size from care providers, biased attitudes or studies from researchers, or troubling trends in the care of fat pregnant women these days. In past years of the Turkey Awards, we've talked about: #1:  fat-phobic care providers #2:  scare-mongering and shaming tactics #3:  jumping to conclusions about risks #4:  scorched earth tactics #5:  prenatal weight gain e...
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Cinderella VBACs and Gestational Age

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Image: Disney "At my last doctors appointment I went in and asked my doctor if I could continue with the pregnancy past 40 weeks if I were still pregnant. He said No because the risk of uterine rupture goes up past 40 weeks."   source "Gestational age greater than 40 weeks alone should not preclude Trial of Labor After Cesarean."   ACOG   Many women planning a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) are told by their providers that they will be supported for a VBAC, but their doctors often conveniently forget to mention ahead of time that they enforce arbitrary rules that require  women to go into labor by 40 weeks or be forced into a cesarean, like the woman quoted above. Some even insist on a repeat cesarean by 39 weeks . This is what author Henci Goer calls a " Cinderella VBAC ." The doctor claims to support VBACs, but puts so many limits on VBAC labors that almost no one gets one. Examples: the mother must go into labor before 40 weeks, the baby has to...
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Keep Children in Rear-Facing Car Seats Longer

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Image from Consumer Reports article cited below As we head into the new school year and the holiday weekend, it is a good time to remind parents and guardians to double-check their car seat usage. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued new guidelines suggesting that parents keep their young children in rear-facing car seats until they reach the height or weight limits of that seat.  In other words, don't be so eager to get those children front-facing because children really are safer rear-facing.  In the past, AAP recommendations were age-based. Generally they recommended that children become front-facing at age two . But there is such a wide variation of size in children, even at the same age, that going only by age doesn't make sense. Also, research shows that rear-facing remains the safest position even for children older than two. Instead, parents should consult the height and weight limits of the car seat they use and use those to guide when to switch to fro...
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