On Mother’s Day

Being doctors has not made us smarter or more especially skilled mothers. However, joking aside, there is some advantage: we have the confidence to know where to look for advice when we need it. How to trust the evidence and science. And more importantly: how to ignore the noise, misinformation, and marketing.

In the week that has both #internationalwomensday and #mothersday, it is worth highlighting again that a vast majority of wellness woo and nutribabble “experts” target women, and in particular, motherhood: from for-profit fertility services/products* to vaccine misinformation* to “immune boosting*” to vitamins/supplements* to alternative practitioners to weight loss* to menopause* – it all disporportionately targets women, and has done great harm. Whether it is mammy/body shaming, or anxiety induced from fear-mongering or wasted €€€ on products/services that were never needed.

From the first week I started this social media project in 2018, the vast majority of all the queries, questions, suggestions in my Inbox “Will you do a post on….” have all come from mothers. And it’s not just social media that I’m having these discussions: in clinic, women highlight their roles as mothers as a major barrier to looking after their own health, as well as the challenges they face looking after their families health.

This Blog has archived many of these topics and discussions, and is searchable by keyword.

*I have written on many of these topics multiple times, on the Blog and in social media. Most recently, I highlighted fertility in the context of the recent for-profit fertility show that was held last week. The cynic in me noted the timing of this event in relation to Mother’s Day.