Woman arrested for drunk breast-feeding her baby
Categories: Family
 |
| Photo by timtom.ch |
A North Dakota woman was arrested Monday for allegedly being drunk while breast-feeding her 6-week-old infant.
Police arrived at 26-year-old Stacey Anvarinia's home in response to a domestic disturbance call. There they saw Anvarinia and her child and arrested her, reported the Associated Press. She pleaded guilty to charges of child neglect and could face five years of jail time.
Her case has raised questions privacy, ethics and whether or not she broke any laws.
From the A.P. story:Police arrived at 26-year-old Stacey Anvarinia's home in response to a domestic disturbance call. There they saw Anvarinia and her child and arrested her, reported the Associated Press. She pleaded guilty to charges of child neglect and could face five years of jail time.
Her case has raised questions privacy, ethics and whether or not she broke any laws.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says excessive alcohol consumption by a breast-feeding mother can lead to drowsiness, deep sleep, weakness and abnormal weight gain in an infant.Anvarinia, who was never given a blood-alcohol test, has some defenders:
"Since when is breast-feeding while drunk a crime?" said Dr. Amy Tuteur, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist in Boston who has been following the case on her Web site, the Skeptical OB.Call us crazy, but maybe it's a good thing Dr. Tuteur is retired.
If the 26-year-old woman had been bottle-feeding her baby, "no one would have bothered to check what was in the bottle," Tuteur said. "You can do a lot more damage by mixing formula wrong."
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
