Yup. Given the totality of the circumstances, obviously the breastfeeding made these macho cops squeamish, so they arrested the mother to retaliate for her making them feel all icky.

Any alcohol passed to the infant in breast milk would arguably be negligibly harmful, though if she makes a habit of it there might be some lasting cumulative effect. But it's totally on the line. However, separating a nursing infant from its mother for several hours by arresting her is still far more harmful.

The officers should be disciplined, and perhaps ordered to have an educational chat with their spouse, mother, or sister about what boobs are really meant for. The mother might get some parenting counseling and the case monitored by CPS.

Did these macho men ever do anything on the domestic violence complaint hey were called out on?

This is a sad and sordid story, I suspect as much a reflection of economic depredation as alcoholism. I have no doubt that alcohol consumption is on the rise these days.

Back in the 50s women smoked and drank through pregnancy -- my mother did. Now there is a lot more information, but its distribution is severely class biased. Help the poor woman, don't throw her in jail.

If the lady had kept her mouth shut, the DA would have had a very difficult time pursuing this case. Aside from BWI not being a law on the books, a half-ways descent attorney could challenge their "we know what drunk is" assertions six ways to Sunday. Do the cops have any evidence beyond conjecture that she was endangering the child? How do they know that she was intoxicated, and not disorientated from being hit in a DV incident? Especially when she was hit in the face.

Never talk to the cops about yourself or your actions without a lawyer or immunity.

Taking kids away from bad parents can be more traumatic and harmful to a child's future than letting them be endangered by bad parents.

I simply can't understand police sometimes. It's like they want to charge someone when there is no crime. What's even more sad is they never attempted to find out more about the physical abuse she encountered.

The police are not always right. Sure breastfeeding while intoxicated is odd but pinning a neglect charge on her only shows us once again that two wrongs don't make a right.

This has nothing to do with breastfeeding in my opinion. If a child's caregiver is proven drunk and there is no one else around to take care of the kid then this person should be charged with endangering a child. This protects helpless children and punishes behavior that society and communities should not allow.

As the article states, there is no conclusive evidence that a baby is harmed by the small amount of alcohol he consumes via breastmilk, so how can this specifically be regulated or prosecuted? I'm a little scared that they don't have to test to determine if someone is intoxicated. As an exhausted working nursing mother I could easily be mistaken for drunk--passed out nightly at my kitchen table with my shirt halfway off.

There simply must be more to the story than this.

Even drunk drivers often get off with 0 jail time, especially for a first offense.

As for effects of alcohol on a nursing infant, here are sources from La Leche League:

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/alcohol.html

Casual drinking while nursing is not a problem. Nursing an infant once while tipsy -though not the smartest choice - is unlikely to cause lasting damage of any kind. Chronic high consumption of alcohol is clearly bad.

Unless this woman has a paper trail of chronic drunkenness, and/or chronic child neglect or abuse, the sentence is insane.

Seems like the clear and obvious danger here is an allegedly drunk mother alone with an infant. That's arguably neglect (if and only if she's actually drunk). But BF? Come on! So do we arrest every mom who pops a couple of advil and nurses (or whatever OTC drug she has that warns it shouldn't be taken by a nursing mother)?

Get her on probation and get her family and friends involved in helping clean up her act. But jail time? No, no, please no.

The world has plenty of intoxicated mothers and more short on parenting skills. The human race continues none the less.

They're not called "pigs" because they're nice people.

the law is an ass. This is why we call them pigs.

when they eat. Asking a stressed out six week old to wait until the investigation was over would have just resulted in more chaos. They just couldn't handle breasts, and found a way to punish her for making them uncomfortable.

In any case, the lactation pediatrician here says that you're too drunk to feed your baby only when you're too drunk to hold your baby. Babies are resilient creatures and difficult to harm unless you're trying or profoundly negligent. Clearly she wasn't.

"Anvarinia has pled guilty but not yet been sentenced."

Anvarinia probably could have beaten this if it went to trial, and I bet she was wrongfully persuaded and/or pressured to enter a guilty plea.

In a trial it would be the male cops word against Anvarinia's that her child was in any danger breastfeeding in her own home, and if their were any women on the jury, then she would most likely get an innocent verdict or a hung jury.

I hope Anvarinia can change her plea, and force her case to go trial, because it sets a bad precedent for a woman to be sentences for breastfeeding her child.

It appears that Anvarinia's 7th amendment rights were violated, and possibly her 4th, and hopefully she can take her case to a higher court.

...I"t was the totality of the circumstances," Grand Forks Police Lt. Rahn Farder told the AP. "It is quite unusual for a mother to be breastfeeding her child as we are conducting an investigation, whether she was intoxicated or not."

Gee so what charges would have been brought is she just let the child cream and cry to be fed. Sounds like the victim became the accused in this case.