Drunk Mother Smothers Infant While Breast-Feeding

A 27-year old woman, on probation for child neglects, had six double-shot alcoholic beverages before attempting to breast feed her 4-month old daughter. She says she must have fallen asleep and, when she woke up an hour later, the child was unresponsive, apparently suffocated from having a face-full of her mother's love.

The woman's husband, apparently sober when he drove her home from the bowling alley where she had consumed the alcohol, went out and got drunk himself afterwards, finding the child dead when he returned.

According to the AP story, the mother "was on probation for neglect of the same child, and was prohibited from drinking alcohol."

The police said that the mother's blood alcohol level was between .15 & .27 at the time the death took place. I can only guess what the alcohol content of the breast milk must have been!

All children deserve better. Foster parents are needed everywhere to help protect and save children like this from their parents. But what to do with a neglectful, irresponsible mother who is still breast-feeding her child?

Next time I suspect and hope that the judge in this case will err on the side of caution instead of once again making a decision that would allow such a child to be retained by such a mother.