Suzette's Parenting and Breastfeeding Blog

This woman, 26 years old from North Dakota, faces 5 years in jail for drunken breastfeeding. Well, to be fair, not just drunken breastfeeding, but for child neglect.

The police officers went there, she was holding her 6 months old baby on the leg, upside down, while answering the door. Then she started shaking the baby in front of the police officers. The police asked her to stop doing that, and she then decided to breastfeed the baby in front of the policemen!

This woman is only 26 years old, that is only 8 years being ‘adult’. According to this video below (from Opposing Views), she has broke the law 27 times in that 8 years, including theft, forgery, contempt of court, and now child abuse.

Of course, the debate here in the site is that, whether it is right to prison her for drunken breastfeeding. If you have any opinion, you can comment over there (or here also can lah!).

For me, I think they have made a sensational topic out of this. The title focuses too much on breastfeeding. I think the police officers did not arrest her for drunken breastfeeding, but breastfeeding probably has provoked them further. It is the child abuse/neglect that they charged her on, I think.

Well, if they really jail people for drunken breastfeeding, I think most of us Chinese ladies, who undergone traditional Chinese confinement, would need to be jailed too. LOL! I still remember my first confinement. It was under a CL, and she gave me a bowl of herbal soup, topped with some liquor. I was drunk, and so did Ian. I really cannot drink, and had rashes. From then on, I told her to cook and let the alcohol evaporate before serving.

So, I think I would need to be jailed for that. And all the CLs in this country will need to be jailed too, coz they helped the ‘criminal’. LOL! And all Chinese mothers would need to be jailed too…

Seriously, 5 years is probably too long…

There is this very interesting site – Opposite Views, which I got to learn just 2 weeks ago. What caught my attention is the debate on this: “Will Formula Feeding Harm Your Baby?”

A very interesting subject, and they have arranged for 2 experts to debate it. Le Leche League International (the LLL) represents the ‘Yes’ side, with many supporting facts on Breastfeeding (moo-moos pls note, it is worth reading!!). Le Leche League is founded in 1956 by 7 breastfeeding mothers (hmm… imagine back in 1956, they must be very brave and bold enough to do this!). It is currently a non-profit organization, with best known authority on breastfeeding. Many of the things that I learnt are sourced from them.

The opposing expert, Joan Wolf, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the Women’s Studies Program at Texas A&M University. She is the author, most recently, of “Is Breast Really Best? Risk and Total Motherhood in the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 2007.

With the recent China’s milk crisis, where fatal melamine contamination poisoned half a million babies and killled many, I guess the debate is kind of concluded by now. It is indisputable that formula feeding can harm your baby, if not kill!

Maybe Dr. Joan Wolf was right, that Breast is probably not really the best, but it is definitely still better than cow’s milk! Until they can find other better substitude, mothers should breastfeed than formula feed.

BTW, it is really interesting to read the argument points in the debate. Why not hop over to have a look?

Please pass on this news to nursing moms, expecting moms, or daddies.

There will be a breastfeeding support meeting in Fabulousmom’s Breastfeeding Cafe.

Venue: Breastfeeding Cafe
Date: 18 Oct 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 10:30am to 11:30am
Moderator: Vivian (see info below)
Fees: NONE

Registration is required, due to limited space. For registration, please email Vivian directly at vivian (at) fabulousmom (dot) com. In your email to her, please mention whether you are expecting or nursing.

Remember, if you registered and can’t make it, try your best to inform her, so those on waitlist can come.

Vivian is the owner of Fabulousmom Boutique. She is an active member of MMB. She is a breastfeeding counsellor trained by UMMC. She is currently attached to UMMC and Jabatan Kesihatan WPKL as an active counsellor on voluntary basis. She has been breastfeeding for 5 years now. She has the experience from both worlds of express & direct breastfeeding. The address & map to the cafe is available at her site.

I wanted to go, but 10:30am is too early for me. Going all the way to Puchong will take about an hour. Geez, leaving at 9:30am means I have to start preparing at… perhaps 8am or 7:30am? I am not that efficient when it comes to kids. Hahahaha! Serious! For example, about to leave the house, one wants to pangsai (pass motion), then another 15 mins gone! :p

Will think first, maybe, maybe not going. :p

If you are staying around Puchong area and if you are a nursing mom, you might want to check out this new hangout, the Breastfeeding Cafe.

It is a cafe opened within Fabulousmom’s boutique. Fabulousmom is the store that I used to buy most of my nursing bras and other nursing accessories including milkmaid tea (drank to boost milk supply).

Please check out the detail in the site. I’m not going to repeat the feature here.

It is actually a good idea to have such place dedicated for breastfeeding community. I hope it gets popular, but seriously the current setup (as in the picture) is not really that great in terms of the ambience.

I think Vivian needs to organize more activities utilizing that space, to make it more well-known. Also, maybe more investments required on the interior. When I first received her email, I imagined it to be a cozy little space like the one in Marmalade Mont Kiara. The kids corner can be enhanced with more toys like Marmalade.

I have no idea on the drinks & food prices yet, it is not published on the site. If anyone know, please share in comment?

I started blogging since Feb 2005. In the 3-4 years time, I think the greatest achievement is not how much income I’ve earned, or whatever statistics it reached. The biggest piece of achievement is really knowing that there are people really benefited from reading my blog. This encourages me a lot to continue.

The best example is Piggy. You can find her commenting in some of my posts, but she is not a blogger though.

She failed to breastfeed her first child due to lack of preparation and support from people around. Like many moms, she listened to the wrong ‘experts’ who made wrong suggestions. She made all the mistakes like many moms who failed to breastfeed, e.g. supplemented with formula and water, skipped night feeding, tried to express too early and declared insufficient milk, etc.

She is actually wife of a friend of mine. After knowing that I breastfed my 2 kids, she came to read my blog and learnt the tips for successful breastfeeding. We exchanged some emails in private too. Below is an email that she sent me, soon after the China milk crisis.

Hi Suzette,

Sad to see the news of the Infant Formula milk that caused so many death of babies in China. I am glad that I am still Breastfeeding my baby.

A lot of people somehow think that Formula milk is better, babies get better nutrients. I just don’t know why, could be the power of media, they think that taking breast milk is just like taking water, can’t make babies full.

Whenever I tell people that my baby is taking BM, from their impression I know, they are thinking: “No wonder she is so petite, only take BM where got enough, why don’t you mix ah?? Formula milk have a lot of DHA, good for brain development, bla bla bla….”
Usually I just ignore them, as long as I know I am giving my baby the best and it is FOC.

Suzette, I never regret to BF my baby although along the way, a lot of challenges & negative comments but I think is still worth it. Whenever I think of BF, I think of you, so, when this China Milk issue popped up, you are the 1st person I think of, I think I am lucky that I turned to the right person. Just imagine if before I deliver, if I ask the wrong person when they tell me that it is very troublesome, baby not full, bla bla bla…? I would end up like a lot of mums now, worried about my baby & maybe will take her to hospital to examine!

Here again, Thanks. A big clap for all BF mommies…… I am sure after this issue, the BF rate will definitely go up.

Can you imagine how touched I was when reading her email? I think breastfeeding moms are in our own circle. We just need to help each other, support each other. From her email, I could guess that there were many negative comments she used to receive, for breastfeeding her baby, eventhough successfully.

I just don’t understand why breastfeeding non-supporters have to condemn on this wonderful thing. They are usually not any expert, but just acting like they know so well…

I guess one important way to help this situation is to educate them. Whether or not they are new mothers, mothers-to-be, elders, fathers, MIL, FIL, all counted.

It is all about moms helping another mom. I am happy that some info/posts in this blog helps! Will try to write more on this topic…

p/s: I was one of a lucky one, without much difficulties in breastfeeding my 1st born. Ian was so chubby when he was a baby. His thighs used to have many ‘segments’! Many wouldn’t believe that he was on exclusive breastfeeding. When it came to my second child, Isabel, it was the opposite. She is petite. Like Piggy’s case, I also received a lot of negative comments, but with my good 1st record, I was confident I was doing something right. I can imagine if Isabel is my first born, and her size could really shatter my confidence! Really thank God Almighty for the smooth start.