Dr. Drew Sucks at Breastfeeding
I had caught a few episodes of “16 and Pregnant” on MTV this season. Mostly, I was disappointed at how many inductions were shown but all of the episodes I caught had vaginal births (albeit intervention-ful.) Tonight I turned on the “16 and Pregnant Reunion- Life After Labor” and most of it didn’t surprise me. They didn’t sugar-coat motherhood and the moms complained like crazy about how horrible labor was. No one mentioned a childbirth class or a doula. ?Then an audience member asked why none of the mother’s breastfed. One mother mentioned that she had tried breastfeeding and it was horrible. Dr. Drew interrupted her and yelled “It HURTS!” I’m pretty sure Dr. Drew has no personal experience with breastfeeding and has obviously not read any breastfeeding texts, ever. Breastfeeding should not hurt! Dr. Drew Pinsky is best known for radio/TV show Love Line where he gave advice on sex, love and relationships to teens and twenty-somethings. Dr. Drew is a bit of an icon but if he is giving out bad advice should today’s youth look somewhere else? What about Mary Jo Podgurski? If you want to see some interviews with the moms from “16 and Pregnant” you can look here. You can also write to MTV and suggest that Dr. Drew get some breastfeeding education at this address:
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
In listening to what he has said before (on Love Line), I’d assume his pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding knowledge hasn’t been updated since Med School.
I watched this also, and I felt like jumping out of my seat and yelling at Dr.Drew. The truth is, breastfeeding is challenging and in some cases it is painful. Having been a young mother, I can say that it was challenging, especially without the support to breastfeed from family. Luckily my husband supported breastfeeding, and we took birth education classes and breastfeeding classes…we wanted to learn as much as possible before givig birth.I breastfeed my first son for 2 and a half years! But like I said, it can be painful. There is engorgement, and mastitis, and the challenge of teaching a baby to latch on correctly. I think Dr. Drew may have been trying to comfort and show support for the mothers that choose not to breastfeed, but I feel that as a Doctor he has a responsibility to encourage parents to do what is most beneficial to their child. Ofcourse there will be exceptions, but most times that is breastfeeding.
Thank you for writing about this! I watched the finale and was pleased with Dr. Drew’s comments to the mothers and the young audience until the very end. He basically just pushed aside the importance of breastfeeding and told an audience of young people that it’s not “the romantic idea” they think it is. I definitely agree that he needs to be educated about the value of breastfeeding.
I had a very unplanned c-section in December after preparing for a natural birth, and breastfeeding has helped me heal tremendously. I hope to continue breastfeeding my son well into his second year.
Also, just had to add that Whitney, the baby who had a baby, did have an emergency c-section with a classical incision. Talk about growing up fast. Interestingly, her mother gave birth shortly before she did, and it looks like she also had a c-section.
So in addition to the group on the stage, the group in the audience and the people watching from home, who else is he giving this bad advice to? How can we educate young women on the JOYS of breastfeeding?
From Dr. Drew’s twitter feed:
On the MTV program we were merely discussing how difficult the physical transformations of pregnancy can be.NOT discouraging women from BF
3:22 PM Jul 27th from TweetDeck
Let me say this AGAIN for the record.I am VERY much in favor of breastfeeding and well aware of its health benefits to mother and child
3:20 PM Jul 27th from TweetDeck
I was INFURIATED! I dedicated an entry on my ‘natural mommy’ blog to this very topic. Feel free to check it out and shout out some tips for those who are looking for advice and struggling!
identityunderconstruction.blogspot.com
Thank you everyone for the comments. Glad to know that I am not the only one who noticed the issue. Now if we could get Dr. Drew to do a breastfeeding special on TV we’d be all set since he’s so “in support” of breastfeeding. 
Yes, that is wrong……