Pennsylvania judge orders woman to stop breastfeeding

[Jesus Malverde]

A Pennsylvania woman is speaking out against a judge who ordered her to stop breastfeeding her 10-month-old daughter.

Jessica Moser is in the midst of a custody battle with her daughter Jasmine’s father and the Northampton County resident told local TV station WFMZ that two weeks ago a judge told her to stop nursing her daughter so the girl could spend two days a week at her father’s house.

“I’m feeling frustrated, hurt,” Moser told WFMZ-TV. “I’m trying to keep myself from crying, it’s very emotional.”

Moser has had primary custody of Jasmine but now the girl’s father would like time with the child. Moser told the judge that it would be difficult to meet the judge’s request because Jasmine doesn’t take a bottle. Moser claims that she will have to stop nursing in order to meet the judge’s request.

“He did say something along the lines like, well she should be on formula, or why isn’t she on formula, she should be able to have formula at ten months,” Moser told WFMZ-TV.

“If I do not comply, I will have my child taken away,” she added.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2013/11/14/pennsylvania-judge-orders-woman-to-stop-breastfeeding/#15728101=0

[elleng]

1. That's rough.

[mattvermont]

2. unbelievable

Perhaps I could understand if the child was 3-5 yo, but 10 months, when the WHO recommends 2 years?
Just another example of the war on women.

[Cairycat]

3. Judge with little knowledge setting visitation for parent's convenience

NOT with the child's needs in mind.

What usually is better for a breastfed child this age is for the father to have visits that are shorter in duration but more frequent. Instead of two whole days, a couple of weekday evenings and a couple of weekend mornings or afternoons might work better than an entire weekend. Breastfeeding is a huge help for a child's physical and emotional health - even more important with the upheaval of a custody battle. It is selfish for the father to demand the bigger, less frequent blocks of time, and ignorant of the judge to rule that the mother must accede to that.

[libdem4life]

4. This is not new. It is common practice. I was forced to put my son in preschool/daycare

even with diagnosed attentional challenges, for the same reason. Not even part-time when he was with his father...full-time. Fortunately he had passed the infancy stage.

[My Good Babushka]

5. It's only two days, I think she could pump. Lots of women pump.

I don't understand the special concern for this woman, when millions of women on TANF are forced to take really awful, exploitative low wage jobs and warehouse their newborn infants in substandard, never inspected "day cares" every day. If breastfeeding at the breast is so important, isn't it important for every baby? I don't ever see anyone taking up the cause of poor women, even on liberal media.

[eridani]

6. The OP clearly states that the kid refuses bottles n/t

[My Good Babushka]

7. We all have to get used to new things sometimes. nt.

[SoCalDem]

10. So, the father will not feed her for his two days??

.. there is MORE to this story...trust me

[eridani]

11. If the kid won't accept bottles, with what? n/t

[malaise]

17. When the kid becomes hungry enough

he/she will accept bottles.
hate to say it but I have no doubt that mom is deliberately breast feeding and not weaning the baby to prevent visitation for the father.
Remember ladies, some of us are very capable of vindictive behavior.
Pump the fugging milk and let the child visit with her father. She is not the only parent.

[treestar]

18. Yes, sounds like another variation of the excuses you hear in family court

for why someone should not see their child at all. Family court can be a sickening place. The worst comes out of people.

[malaise]

19. When relationships and marriages fail people can be

as passionate about hate as they were about love.

I know some stories that would make you weep.

[B Calm]

8. I agree! No excuse why the baby can't learn to feed

through a bottle.

[My Good Babushka]

9. That's all I'm saying.

Almost a year old, every baby can't go around thinking heaven and earth bends around them all the time. They have to be amenable to new things and routines! My son sometimes refuses to go to school? Should I let him stay home all the time? That's just not the way the world works.

[Sheldon Cooper]

12. There's no reason a 10-month old can't learn to take a bottle

of expressed breast milk. She could even start using a sippy cup. In addition, the child should have been started on solid foods by now - there is no need to be exclusively breast fed at that age. The child is old enough for her nutritional needs to be met with methods other than exclusive breast feeding.

Knowing absolutely nothing about these people other than what's in the article, and assuming that there are no questions regarding the father's fitness to parent, I will say that I think the mother is wrong to prevent her child and the child's father from spending extended time together. Using the child to score points against the other parent is messed up.

[randome]

13. "...something along the lines..." Classic vacillation.

And the mother not even addressing the issue of a breast pump makes me less likely to take her side of the story.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[SoCalDem]

15. Exactly.. My daughter-in-law nurses our grandaughter (11 months) BUT

she also preps bottles for when our son needs to/wants to feed her..or for when grandma (her Mom) needs to sit for her.

She's also learning to drink from a cup, but as long as she wants to nurse, our D-I-L indulges her.. It's the only sure -fire way to calm her down in a hurry when she's having a hissyfit

This is a classic Mom v Dad war, and the baby is the weapon of choice for each parent

[malaise]

20. +1,000

I actually agree with the judge here. There are two parents.

[WinkyDink]

14. ANOTHER G**D***** ARROGANT MALE JUDGE who thinks he knows ANYTHING about women.

And it seems my PA is the land of them. HERE'S one who thinks he knows about breast CANCER:
http://www.dailylocal.com/government-and-politics/20131016/update-judge-denies-arnolds-request-for-leniency
"Braxton said he was “optimistic” that Arnold would recover...."

[avebury]

16. Easy solution - Dad moves into the home on his days.

If the issue is solely about feeding the child, then the Mom just has deal with the fact that Dad should be able to bond with his daughter too. As long as Mom can still feed the child then she should have no right to complain that Dad is in the home on his days. In between feedings, Mom should leave the home for a few hours to leave Dad with Dad and child time minus Mom.

As to taking a bottle, we don't know if it is a matter of a child 100% refusing to take a bottle after numerous efforts by Mom or if Mom caves in easily without much effort because 1) it is just plain easier to let the child have her way or 2) she also realizes that she might have total control over the situation by claiming that the child can only be breastfed. Has the Mom even tried a sippy cup? If the daughter was left with another adult for a few hours it would be interesting experiment to see what the third party adult could achieve with the child.

I would not be surprised if the daughter also sleeps in the same bed as Mom as well. Too many parents now a day seem to have attachment issues where it comes to moving a child out of the parents' bedroom and into the child's own room.

Considering how acrimonious two adults can get when they split and there is a child involved, I would prefer to hear the results of an assessment by an independent third party.