Drunken Breastfeeding

There is a lot to this story that I do not know or pretend to know, so my comments are more just me thinking out loud. The basics are that a woman calls the police because her boyfriend is beating her up, she has a record. When the police arrive, the boyfriend is not there. The mother has obvious wounds on her face and is nursing her baby.

She is arrested for drunken breastfeeding. The officers did NOT do a blood alcohol test at the scene or ever. The Chief of Police said that his officers deal with a lot of alcohol related problems and therefore, know drunks when they see them.

I am so baffled. This stand of knowing drunks when you see them would certainly not fly had this mother been driving. Could her behavior not have been caused by anything other than alcohol? Perhaps the sleep deprivation of being a new parent? The stress from having just been beaten? Again, in any other case other causes of a medical origin would have at least been ruled out.

One thing from the article that really startled me was the fact that they couldn’t believe that the mother was breastfeeding while they questioned her. She was in her home to the best of my knowledge, so why would breastfeeding a needy newborn not be normal? Breastfeeding is not a crime.

You’re going to read words, I never thought I would write, I agree with Dr. Amy on this one.

All this said, I think that if you choose to drink to the point of being intoxicated while you are breastfeeding, you need to have someone with you to care for the baby. But was this woman at this point or otherwise having issues? I’m interested in how this unfolds. Please share your thoughts.