An unthinkable court decision: a judge asks that a mother stop breastfeeding her baby! And the explanations struggle to convince…
When it comes to breastfeeding, the decision is up to moms. They can choose not to do so, or on the contrary to continue breastfeeding as long as possible. And everyone does as they please, as long as the situation suits the parents as well as the baby. But one mom didn’t have that freedom, Arleta Ramirez split from her partner shortly after the birth of her baby. And it was the court that took care of arranging the custody of their child.
Many options were available for custody of the baby, but the judge preferred to order the mother something unthinkable: stop breastfeeding. He ordered this in order to set up joint custody and that the dad, Mike Ridgway, could bottle feed his baby. Arleta, shocked by the judge’s ruling, told her full story to The Washington Post. She is counting on her testimony not to stop there.
What’s next after this ad
A very complicated situation for the mother
The mother tried by all means to avoid this verdict, she absolutely does not want to go bottle-feeding with her baby. She chose to breastfeed her first child until she was two years old and she wanted to do the same with the second, but the dad stopped her. The parents found themselves in conflict… The judge first asked the mother to accept visits during the day and at night from the father. To finally tell him to organize himself and go to the bottle to organize joint custody.
In an email sent to the Washington Post, the dad explains: “I have given her space to breastfeed and pump milk so that I can bottle feed our daughter while she is in my care. Beyond the age of 6 months, I will continue to support the breastfeeding and bottle feeding of our breastmilk daughter as much as possible, while supplementing with formula only when absolutely necessary.” Despite letters from her pediatrician and breastfeeding expert, how the baby takes the bottle badly and the mother has trouble producing milk with the pumps, the court did not change its verdict. The mother must stop breastfeeding so that joint custody can be set up with the father of the child.