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Dr. Brazelton backs up on his ‘cats kill babies’ warning
By Gina Spadafori
February 3, 2009
As blogged here earlier, the noted pediatrician Dr. T. Barry Brazelton screwed up big time in telling a concerned woman in his syndicated newspaper column that her pregnant daughter needed to dump her cats to protect her baby. In his upcoming column, reports the Houston Chronicle, he changes course:
[Brazelton and co-author Dr. Joshua Sparrow] backtracked, and the column for release Sunday is devoted to clarifying “our recent response to a mother concerned about whether her pregnant daughter’s three cats presented a risk to the baby.”
To an outraged reader, the doctors respond:
“Some readers wanted to be sure we debunked the myth that cats ‘suck’ the air out of babies. Of course we didn’t mean to suggest this. But you are right that accidents can happen and that supervision of cats or dogs with babies is prudent. Rather than attributing jealousy to cats, it may be best to keep cats out of babies’ cribs for the same reasons that we keep extra bedclothes and stuffed animals out of cribs. Certainly this ought to be possible without having to find a new home for the pet.”
“An” outraged reader? I bet it was quite a few. But at least the authors set the record straight, and for that, they deserve some credit.
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I’m glad to see the retraction. I was just so furious to see a doctor saying such foolish things about cats and sent a nice indignant response. Hopefully anyone who was considering getting rid of the cat based on Brazelton’s recommendation will reconsider.
Comment by Anlina Sheng — February 3, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
I think he knows that he screwed up “Big Time”!
Comment by Colorado Transplant — February 4, 2009 @ 7:37 am