Breastfeeding while on drugs and alcohol

by Darren

I have a true story of an acquaintance of mine who breast feeds her kid while she drinks and smokes pot. The custom didn’t just start one day and end quickly. Instead, it’s gone on for years! No matter how much you might try and reason with her, she insists that all of her “studies” have led her to believe that the bad elements of her consumption can’t be passed on to her child.

It’s bad enough we’re dealing with an issue that’s controversial, but on top of it, she’s a belligerent breast feeder. She won’t quit no matter what. And as we all know, there’s no “rules” on exactly when a woman a should quit breast feeding her baby. The most common advice I’ve seen is they’ll quit “when they’re both ready”. Well it’s been a few years now, and the little angel is quitting, and I think I know why.

I’m sure you’ve been around someone breast feeding their kid before. If you’re a man, you just have to “play it cool” and act like you don’t notice the kid slide under the woman’s shirt and start the slurping sounds. In reality, I can’t help feeling a bit uneasy. I keep hoping not to look over, but the sounds make you veer your head in the natural direction. But not only did I get bothered by the actual act of the breast feeding. I started to notice something: the kid looked drunk when we was done!

Now I know this is probably an exageration but when the little bugger finally comes up for air, he has a genuinely wasted look on his face. That’s why he never wants to quit breast feeding. To do so would mean he’d have to ‘go sober’.

I know others have tried to talk to her about this issue. One even called the Child Services on her, but it didn’t change her attitude. To her, breast feeding is completely natural, and can’t hurt the child, no matter what the mother ingest.

What are your feelings on this subject? Don’t you feel the mother has an extra responsibility to stay sober when breast feeding?