A judgment that we do not expect: a mother was forced to stop breastfeeding so that her baby could go to her father in joint custody.
Breastfeeding is a privileged moment between the mother and her baby, some mothers therefore prefer to breastfeed as long as possible and often this is not a problem. Some babies take the breast better, others the bottle, in all cases the parents adapt to what their infant prefers. A couple welcomed a baby in July 2022 and the breastfeeding went well. But shortly after the baby was born, Arleta Ramirez and Mike Ridgway separated and made an appointment in court for custody of the baby…
The mother surely did not expect to receive this kind of verdict in court. The judge ordered her to stop breastfeeding her baby so that joint custody could be put in place. He therefore asked her to switch to bottles with her baby as soon as possible. Overwhelmed by events, she decided to tell everything to the Washington Post.
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A very complicated situation for the mother
The mother has sought by all means to avoid this verdict, she absolutely does not want to go to the bottle 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.