No clear answers in drunken breast-feeding arrest July 13, 2009
Stacey Anvarinia called police to report that her boyfriend had assualted her. While police were conducting their investigation, they noticed that Anvarinia was drunk and that she was breastfeeding her 6-week-old baby. Police arrested the woman and charged her with child neglect.
Since then, the blogosphere has erupted in debate about whether drinking while breastfeeding is harmful or whether the police were right. Only one thing is clear – that there are no clear answers. In fact, we can’t really be sure the woman was drunk at the time. While she pleaded guilty to child neglect, police did not administer a blood-alcohol test because they aren’t necessary for child neglect charges. Police said they knew she was drunk from the way she was behaving, but reports say no more than that.
Some bloggers think the police abused their authority even if Anvarinia had been drunk. “Since when is breast-feeding while drunk a crime?” said Dr. Amy Tuteur, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who writes the Skeptical OB. If Anvarinia had been feeding her baby formula, “no one would have bothered to check what was in the bottle,” Tuteur opined. “You can do a lot more damage by mixing formula wrong.”
The thing is that no one can know what effect drunken breast feeding has on babies. No one has ever studied it directly because of the eithical implications of conducting studies whereby researchers induce intoxication in breast feeding mothers. The only evidence we have on the subject is anecdotal, which does not allow conclusions to be drawn one way or the other.
Most interest groups advise against drinking and breastfeeding but others see no harm in limited alcohol consumption among breast feeding mothers. It has also been said that alcohol assists a woman with making milk. Doctors report that alcohol remains in the body for two to three hours after consumption. Other interesting posts can be found at http://ecochildsplay.com
Commentators who feel the police came down too hard on the mother argue that the child’s best interests were harmed when its mother was put in jail for 5 years. They argue that drunken breast feeding is the lesser of the two evils. Police, however, argue that Anvarinia was arrested for more than just drunken breast feeding. Police say nothing more than that it was the totality of the circumstances and that they would have arrested the woman on child neglect charges even if she had not been nursing her infant drunk.
Posted Under: Child Abuse, Child Safety, Current Events
Reader Comments
I have several comments that may prompt some creative defenses for the new mother. First, the most obvious concern is to “define drunk.” Without a qualifier such as a blood alcohol test, the charge seems vague and ambiguous at best. Second, silly, goofy, upset individuals may exhibit “behavior” that couldy be perceived as crazy, drunk, etc. Third, the last sentence of the article states that the arrest was based on the “totality of the circumstances.” Well, what ARE ALL the FACTS? What about probable cause verses reasonable suspicion as follows:
–Criminal standard of Probable Cause=beyond a shadow of a doubt or 99.9%
–Civil standard of Reasonable Suspicion=preponderance of evidence or 51.0%.
Fourth and finally, a pediatrician suggested to a family friend (in Richmond, Va circa 1985) that she drink a beer before breast feeding to relax her because she was having difficulty with the task with her first child. It worked.
In closing, I hope Stacey will appeal the verdict because (without having knowledge of all the facts) based on the information in the aforementioned article, this sounds like a good case of malicious prosecution to me.
I would also like to know the circumstances surrounding Stacey’s guilty plea.