Modern mothers have a serious problem on their hands, and it's other mothers. Elisabeth Badinter, one of France's foremost intellectuals, has identified a creeping zealotry that is out to fold us all into its bosom. Naturalism, she notes, has become the touchstone that good liberal mothers measure themselves against: Childbirth should be unfettered by painkillers; co-sleeping gives your infant untold psychological advantages; and breast-feeding must be practiced rigorously. This regimen turns motherhood into a full-time job and in the process makes fathers irrelevant.

"The...