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Stacey Anvarinia, a 26-year-old in Grand Forks, North Dakota,
recently pleaded guilty to a felony count of child neglect. The
reason? Breastfeeding her 6-week-old back in April after having one
too many. The police officers who cuffed her noted that alcohol can
be passed through breast milk, and that she was endangering her
child. Now she may be facing 5 years in prison.
Where do I begin? First off, the issue of drinking while breastfeeding is very controversial. Some doctors say plain and simple: Don't do it. Others encourage the pump-and-dump method. But there are many more who note that drinking a small glass of wine now and then isn't going to harm your child.
New Low-Alcohol Wine: Bad Idea or Brilliant?
My personal rule of thumb is somewhere in the middle: As a breastfeeding mother myself, I admit to craving an occasional glass of wine. It relaxes me! But I keep it to one small glass (seriously, I use these tiny little things)--never more (unless it's my mom's low-alcohol sangrias that we're talking about). And, I don't go near "hard" alcohol. I'll save the dirty martinis for when I'm done nursing Russell.
Bottom line: Do I think that breastfeeding while drunk is a bad idea? Yes--100 percent. But do I think that a woman should be taken away from her infant and locked up for five years because of it? I'm sorry, but I just don't think so. Here's a better idea: Put the woman on probation. Make her take a year of parenting classes (which she clearly needs). Assign a CPS worker to make visits. Test her blood-alcohol level ever Friday night--whatever needs to be done. But, it breaks my heart to see a mother separated from her infant in these circumstances.
What do you think of this?
P.S. In cased you missed it, here's a story about a woman who was arrested for breastfeeding while driving and, um, also talking on her cell phone.
More from Vitamin G:
*Drinking
while pregnant--Vitamin G readers weigh in.
*Would
you ever breastfeed someone else's child? Salma Hayek
did.
