Abstract

To the Editor

We read with great interest the Anchondo et al article published in the May 2012 issue of the Southern Medical Journal, in which the authors report the results of an institutional survey of pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists, and family medicine physicians.¹ In this study, the physicians reported minimal breast-feeding education in medical school and training during residency, which is consistent with prior data; however, our group conducted studies that showed higher breast-feeding rates overall for physician mothers.^2,3 In contrast to most previous studies, we interviewed our study participants one to one. It is plausible that physician mothers who did not breast-feed, had to supplement or stop breast-feeding early, or were unable to achieve their personal breast-feeding goal. In such cases, the study modality can affect recruitment bias and whether a study sample is representative of the study population. In addition, we included all specialties in our studies.^2,3 It is possible that physician mothers in different medical specialties experience different worksite enablers and obstacles and, therefore, have different breast-feeding behaviors after their return to work.