I say yes......most definitely..Breast-feeding while drunk: is it a crime?Last February, police in Grand Forks, N.D., were called about a domestic disturbance at the home of 26-year-old Stacey Anvarinia. When they arrived, Anvarinia was drunk and slurring her words--and she was breast-feeding. The officers arrested Anvarinia for neglect of her six-week-old infant on the grounds that alcohol can pass from mother to child via breast milk. They never determined her blood alcohol level, but they declared her "extremely intoxicated." The baby was taken to the hospital for an examination and Anvarinia was locked up on charges of child neglect. She pleaded guilty to the charge, a Class C felony, in state District Court in June.
Today, according to the Grand Forks Herald, Anvarinia was "sentenced to a six-month term, which she can potentially serve at least part of at a substance-abuse treatment facility."
"I'm very sorry for what I did, and I know it was wrong," Anvarinia told the judge. "And I would like to continue working toward getting my daughter back."
The incident has grabbed international attention and sparked a debate on whether it's safe to drink while breast-feeding--and whether it's a crime if you do.
Many women were outraged that Anvarinia was put in jail. "Since when is breast-feeding while drunk a crime?" writes Dr. Amy Tuteur, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist in Boston who has been following the case on her blog, the Skeptical OB. "Is it even a danger to the baby's health? There is certainly a theoretical risk that a baby can be harmed by breastfeeding from a chronically intoxicated mother. There is no scientific evidence that breastfeeding during a single episode of intoxication is harmful to the baby in any way."Auteur is right: the medical research is quite murky. It's a difficult issue to study because researchers cannot ethically conduct controlled research on intoxicated women who breast-feed. As a result, doctors depend mainly on anecdotal evidence.
The American Academy of Pediatrics considers limited consumption compatible with breast-feeding and says excessive alcohol consumption can lead to drowsiness, deep sleep, weakness and abnormal weight gain in an infant.
Dr. Jack Newman, member of the La Leche League International's Health Advisory Council, says in his handout More Breastfeeding Myths: "Reasonable alcohol intake should not be discouraged at all. As is the case with most drugs, very little alcohol comes out in the milk. The mother can take some alcohol and continue breast-feeding as she normally does. Prohibiting alcohol is another way we make life unnecessarily restrictive for nursing mothers."
Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=44676#ixzz0PHJJQzHl____________________________________________
Americans are nuts...there are no two ways about it...
I'll never get over them jailing a woman for breast feeding a three year old.....I actually know a woman who did that as well.....and while most women have weaned their kids far earlier than that, it wasn't a jailing offense in my view...
Americans treat women like dirt.....