More drunken breastfeeding... - Page 2

[PinkinPA]

. And these officers have a built in drunkenness detector system right?

Well, sort of. As a wife of a DH who is a police officer, I know that he has been trained to look for certain things that would indicate drinking, or any type of intoxication. I'll have to ask him to read this article when he gets home.

Honestly, lets not get too mad at the cops for saying

"It is quite unusual for a mother to be breast-feeding her child as we are conducting an investigation, whether she was intoxicated or not."

How many times have we acknowleged that women in our society are pretty much shamed into hiding ourselves while feeding our babes? If they don't see breastfeeding, they just don't see it! It think it's our culture, not their fault for recognizing it. Breasts are sexualized. It just says to me that they weren't exposed to breastfeeding as normal.

However, this woman needs some help from somewhere...

This all says to me that we need to be more active in promoting breastfeeding as normal, not shameful.

[spicyrock]

Originally Posted by PinkinPA

Well, sort of. As a wife of a DH who is a police officer, I know that he has been trained to look for certain things that would indicate drinking, or any type of intoxication.

But they aren't infallible. I once got into a minor car accident, for example, where the cops insisted I was drunk and made me do all manner of humiliating sobriety tests in five o'clock traffic while I pleaded with them to just let me take
a breathalyzer (I was dead sober, of course). My friend who was in the car had been drinking, and they just didn't buy the story that I was the designated driver. Why? I have no idea. But they were way off.

I hope your husband wouldn't find himself treating this woman the way these officers did. Drunk or not, she was entirely entitled to nurse her baby in her own home, legally. Without a bac, we have no way of knowing if or to what extent she was intoxicated, and I don't think the officers' ignorance about breastfeeding being normal is excusable. They don't accept ignorance as an excuse for breaking the law, after all.

[PinkinPA]

[QUOTE][But they aren't infallible/QUOTE]

Of course they aren't! They are asked to make a judgement call. I'm almost sure that if they had not done anything at all, we'd be screaming that the woman was doing the baby harm by nursing drunk.
I've seen it on here.

I'm just being the voice for the other side. The police were acting in the interest of the baby. Whether or not the mother was injured, they were concerned for the baby being exposed to alcohol and why should'nt they be?

I'm not sure the issue was the right to breastfeed or not, but the safety of the baby.

Maybe we need to send letters to educate the police on this issue of breastfeeding?

Without a bac, we have no way of knowing if or to what extent she was intoxicated

Right, but there needs to be probable cause before they can draw blood to test. They are acting on what they see.

,

and I don't think the officers' ignorance about breastfeeding being normal is excusable.

I agree and it stinks, but the police aren't the root of what society dictates, after all they are just ordinary citizens who live within our society.

They don't accept ignorance as an excuse for breaking the law, after all.

They don't set that into place and they don't get to hand out the laws as they are made.

Their hands are tied.

[annie_noah]

This is a ridiculous story. In both this case and other cases of apparent "drunken breastfeeding" an emphasis is put on the breastfeeding angle of it when there are so many other factors at play. It really serves to further undermine breastfeeding mothers and perpetuate the myth that you need to give up living life in order to breastfeed.

I wrote about it on my blog and a number of other great bloggers have too. I linked to a few at the bottom of my post:

You should not be drunk while caring for your baby