DWBF: Driving While … Breastfeeding!

What an idiot.

You are missing the point. This isn’t about breast vs. bottle, fast food, TV, or Jesus. She could be the best driver in the world and capable of breast feeding, chatting on her phone, and picking her butt while she drives. The fact remains, not only is this sort of thing illegal for a reason, but it’s stupid to begin with.

What’s the point of singing her praises for breast feeding when someone else might easily hit her and send that baby through the windshield and spatter it all over the road? That’s like ordering a Super Size meal and a Diet Coke because Diet Coke only has one calorie.

Stupid behavior, which this plainly is, deserves criticism. It’s not claiming that I or anyone else is perfect. I don’t have children, nor do I want them. I also don’t pretend to be perfect. It’s calling someone out for endangering another life. I don’t care how she endangers herself because that is her business, but taking her child’s life and putting it at such tremendous risk because she can’t manage to pull over for a few minutes is irresponsible, stupid, and bad parenting.

Still a better mother than Brittany Spears.

Evilbeagle, I don’t understand your contention. Nutritionally, a big sugary soda is worse than a diet one. One bad choice (large fries) does not mean one should make another (sugary soda).

There is only one valid point here. She endangered the life of her infant.

I think the worst part is that she will probably do it again. What happened to common sense and the fact that her child could get hurt? sheesh!

Of course once I clicked through I saw that she is faced with jail time/fines. I hope it also means that child protective services will keep an eye on her kids.

I think Evilbeagle has the comments closest to my heart.

‘She’s an idiot, plain and simple.’ Yep.

Beyond Dangerous. When I was a teacher I used to show my students a Nova on accidents. In one segment they show crash test dummies with a baby in the lap of someone in the front passenger seat. The baby is smashed on the dash. This is pre-airbags. Someone should call Child Protective Services and get this woman some help.

In some countries that would be a reason for immediate revocation of the driver’s license. And rightly so, methinks.

Well, probably not the best idea in the world and while I would most likely choose the luxury of being late to wherever and nurse before getting into the car. I don’t know her circumstances and maybe she didn’t have that luxury. There is way too much pressure on people these days and being a working mom (probably deprived of sleep, especially with an infant) is extremely difficult. Some people have more family, more money, or more time to work with than others.

Statistics determine that a child safety seat is the safest place for a baby, but do those statistics take into account the accidents caused by a screaming baby distracting a parent or trying to sooth a baby while reaching behind you to a baby facing the back window? When they cry so hard they choke and you worry they might be more than just upset? Do they take into account how the persistent and frequent unanswered screaming of a baby affects their health and development?

Also, is it really safer to pull over to the side of the road and nurse? My family pulled over into the break-down lane and a truck slammed into them. One member died and the rest have had severe lifelong consequences. I would never, ever pull over on a highway unless it was an emergency.

It isn’t always the dumb following of rules that is the best route of decision-making. Sometimes you have to make your own decisions and unless you’re in that person’s shoes it’s pretty hard to try to judge them and things are usually a shade of grey.

“…the mother was quoted as saying “…well, I know all about safety. My child was perfectly safe. I would never have held her over the side of that 12th floor balcony if I thought she might fall. What kind of mom do you think I am? Besides, up to the point I dropped her, she was having a great time…”.

“There is no reason we should ever concern ourselves with the actions of others. Today, the antiquated concepts of “good judgment, common sense, and consequences” have no place in our modern society. People should be able to do what ever they want, including endangering the lives of others. Who are we to judge.”

The above view is brought to you by those who, in matters of antisocial behavior, deny that the Emperor has no clothes. I, for one, am happy to say that there is no legitimate reason to breastfeed while driving. None. She had, and still has, options to handle this situation.

As to the excuse makers who are defending this stellar mom, just what situation could occur that would lead you to say “…now that was a bad decision, and they should be punished…”? Don’t try to make some wimpy “…they took God out of public schools…”, or “…oh, we’re killing Gaia…” crap, either.

I mean, be honest. What type of depraved act would one person have to commit on another person to motivate you to call the action wrong, and the perp., after the act is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, worthy of punishment? Murder, Rape, Child Abuse. Are these acts OK, too? Maybe in some culture, somewhere, but not in our culture.

Now, please excuse me while I vomit up my breakfast, after having to read your pathetic support for this “Good Mother”.

The world is populated with morons. Maybe we should just let natural selection take its course…

Actually, Dog Droppings, that would be more in line with selective breeding, which is all sorts of wrong. Natural selection would dictate letting this woman and her kids die in a fiery car crash while she is breast feeding so that her brand of stupidity dies out on its own naturally.

I’m not in support of driving while breast-feeding, obviously. However, I don’t think that she necessarily doesn’t deserve her children. Sleep-deprived, working mothers with new babies and multiple children may not be thinking clearly and she did NOT dangle her baby over a balcony, she didn’t get into an accident, and as far as I can tell as she wasn’t cited her for reckless driving. She may have been driving safer than some idiots out there, for all I know. Someone just peeped in her window and called the police.

Yes, probably not the greatest thing, but every parent makes mistakes and poor decisions and if that was reason enough to be taken away, we’d all be adopted or orphans.

Allowing children to climb trees should be illegal too, definitely, and heaven forbid we allow any kind of risk. There was a time when car seats didn’t exist and most people survived, even driving and breast-feeding. There is a great deal of difference between risk and actual harm. The child wasn’t beaten, raped, or murdered – subjected to a greater sense of risk than commonly accepted – yes.

People who defend this kind of behavior are the reason this country is such a mess. This isn’t to say there aren’t gray areas, but some things are clearly right or clearly wrong, and denying this is foolish. Willingly breaking the law and endangering your children falls under the “clearly wrong” category. This isn’t passing judgment on this woman, it’s making a moral judgment about this particular behavior. Noone is helping this woman by defending her behavior or making excuses for her (or anyone else who would do this). Instead, you are condemning her to repeat her actions with the understanding that they are ok or excusable. Not only that, but if she were ever in an accident while breastfeeding and her baby died, she would have to live with the terrible guilt of knowing she killed her baby. How about we give gentle guidance backed up with legal measures (if necessary) instead of encouraging stupid and dangerous behavior?