Dear Dr. Oz

I like you a lot.  I find you to be open, honest, and incredibly open minded about alternative forms of healing/medication.

That being said, I watched you on The View yesterday and you said something that really upset me.  You said that women who encounter stress in their pregnancy are more likely to have children with serious problems (the example you used was autism).

And I say, how dare you?? How dare you put that kind of pressure and stress on women.  As mothers, we already blame ourselves for everything that is wrong with our baby.  Heck, my baby gets a bump on the head and I get upset and think people will think I don't watch him properly.

While I understand that the research you quoted would be fascinating to a doctor- it could be a further cause of stress in a pregnant woman/new mother (i.e. me).  Pregnant women have enough to be stressed about- our jobs, our rapidly growing body (which you also mentioned, but I won't get into that), our marriages, our unborn baby.  Please don't give us anything more to worry about.

I don't have a medical degree.  I didn't read the research you quoted.  But I have to agree with Barbara Walters (who I almost NEVER agree with) in saying that it is unfair to make a blanket statement like that and end with, "so don't be stressed, pregnant women" (not an exact quote, I know).  It's unrealistic, unattainable and unfair.

4 comments:

  1. Just came across your blog ! I totally have to agree! As a mom with two beautiful children , one which is HF Austim- 8 years old and 4.5 year old daughter, I am very upset to here Dr. Oz make a statement like that !. Yes , my pregancy had some issues and I needed to rest, lots of women do. But to say that stress is the link to possible Autism is so bakwards! It's miss information like this makes mom's stress , and have an inaccurate picture of how a child is affected by Autism !

    Great Blog!
    You can find me at : www.shannonscreativeroom.com

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  2. Just got the link to your blog from Shannon above... Like Shannon, I have two kids - 7 and 5 and I work in the Autism field, and have since before I had my children. It is my 7 yr old who has Autism. I had an amazingly relaxing pregnancy with him which was complication free! I was fortunate enough to not be working at all during my entire pregnancy with him..so I focused on being pregnant, reading everything there was to read and preparing for his birth! So to hear what Dr. Oz said on the View is very upsetting...and definitely NOT true! Thanks so much for you blog post!
    Jennifer

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  3. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that was so upset by his comment.
    Although I don't have personal experience with having an autistic child, it really made my blood boil to hear him say those words.
    Glad to have both of your reading the blog! Look forward to reading yours.

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  4. wow That's just wrong. According to him my daughter should have problems. with my pregnancy not being able keep much down. My mom with breast cancer and chemo.... my mother law at the time.... But she turned out great... she had a grade point average of 3.33333, never had to go on Maure to find out who is the daddy of her baby, when going to the school nickname Herpes High!
    First it was Freud blaming the mom for the emotional problems now Doc Oz blaming us for the rest......

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