Mother defends breastfeeding baby while driving (followup on idiot)

WKYC-TV/DT Cleveland ^ | 6.17.03 | Vic Gideon

[mhking]

Mother defends breastfeeding baby while driving

Reported by Vic Gideon
POSTED: Monday, June 16, 2003 5:06:15 PM
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:20:52 PM

PORTAGE COUNTY -- A mother traveling from Detroit to Pittsburgh got into trouble in Portage County while trying to drive and breastfeed her baby at the same time.

Twenty-nine-year-old Catherine Donkers had fed the baby before she left Detroit but said her seven-month-old daughter was hungry again.

"I knew I was doing nothing wrong when I was breastfeeding her," Donkers said.

Donkers doesn't consider her actions excessively dangerous.

"I think there are lots of things we do when we put ourselves at risk, just by the very fact that I'm in a car and there's lots of car accidents every single day," she said. "I think it would be reasonable to say even that's a danger."

A truck driver apparently saw it as a danger and called the highway patrol. But Donkers wouldn't pull over for police until she got to a tollbooth.

"I've directed her to, that when she doesn't feel safe, she goes to a public place," said her husband, Brad Barnhill.

At the tollbooth, Donkers didn't give the trooper a driver's license. She instead pulled out an affidavit as identification and got cited for not having a license.

The couple also claims she did nothing wrong, saying Michigan law has an exemption to its child restraint law for nursing mothers.

They claim that since the turnpike is an interstate, drivers can follow the laws of their home state. But the highway patrol says that as long as the stop occurred in Ohio, they have to abide by Ohio laws.

The couple has done extensive research on the law and believes in a strict adherence to them. Donkers is facing child endangering and child seat violations among other charges. Her and her husband say they plan to fight all charges and will file a counter suit.

[Catspaw]

Well, hey, if you think babies are disposable, the way Peter Singer does, more power to ya. After all, she can just have another one.

[justshe]

EXCELLENT explanation of the mechanics of breastfeeding. You only left out one thing.....burping. Normally, the child is burped (dependent upon age) by being held in a 'sitting up' position while patting the child on the back. You then 'flip' the child so they can nurse on the other breast.

[mylife]

Well, hey, if you think babies are disposable,

Who said that???

[sarasmom]

"Should ride in the back seat" is not "Must ride in the back seat".
Came in late on this "issue", but I have experience with the front seat, back seat child restraint issue, and my child always rode in the front passenger seat(no air-bag) facing the appropriate direction in (age/weight) appropriate child seats.
UNLESS another adult was also in the vehicle.
At that point, I happily ignored screams,thuds, unexplained misc sounds, etc. and concentrated on driving since it takes more that a quick glance to evaluate a situation if the rear view mirror is properly positioned for driving.
Also my daily routes put me at greater risk of rear or side impacts.(mostly divided 4 lanes)
That said,
I breast fed my baby,and I consider it insane and inexcusable to breast feed a baby while driving a vehicle.
I can not imagine a circumstance that any woman felt that keeping the wheels rolling would be more important than calmly feeding a hungry,nursing baby.
Based on the letter of the law here, she walks.
As she should.According to law.
She is stupid, but unless someone passes a law that says stupid people go to jail for stupidity, she walks and the cops were wrong.
Frankly,I am more often endangered by drivers who think it is against the law to actually use the turn signals installed on their vehicle, than I am by some nitwits stupid action involving driving while stupidly endangering an child, but not actually causing an accident.
You seem to want to punish this moron for what might have happened.
While I understand the feeling, I expect cops to have a more "letter of the law" attitude.Or did I miss the charge of driving while stupid?
I myself admit too, in my misspent youth, stupid driving stunts.At one point, I actually considered it a virtue to be admired, that I could change clothes and make-up while driving to a club.From uniform to nightclub chic, at 50 mph, in 15 minutes or less.(including nylons).
Funny, I never caused an accident,never had a traffic ticket, and nobody was ever hurt.
It makes me a little uneasy that you, and a lot of people on this forum, think a little pre-emptive,extrajudicial punishment for my previous carelessness would be just fine and dandy, and a really good thing, just to "teach me a lesson".
You might want to read this twice before you reply. :^)

[Catspaw]

EXCELLENT explanation of the mechanics of breastfeeding. You only left out one thing.....burping. Normally, the child is burped (dependent upon age) by being held in a 'sitting up' position while patting the child on the back. You then 'flip' the child so they can nurse on the other breast.

It's been a while since I breastfed (and NOT while driving a car) and forgot about the interim burp--and the "I'm finished" burp. Burps in the sit up position are usually done with one hand on the baby's chest while the other pats the baby's back. How one does that with at least one hand on the wheel is beyond me. Maybe she drove with her knees.

[mylife]

EXCELLENT explanation of the mechanics of breastfeeding. You only left out one thing.....burping. Normally, the child is burped (dependent upon age) by being held in a 'sitting up' position while patting the child on the back. You then 'flip' the child so they can nurse on the other breast. It's been a while since I breastfed (and NOT while driving a car) and forgot about the interim burp--and the "I'm finished" burp. Burps in the sit up position are usually done with one hand on the baby's chest while the other pats the baby's back. How one does that with at least one hand on the wheel is beyond me. Maybe she drove with her knees

It is difficult we probably need to pass some laws.

[bvw]

And that is bad how? Please CC every CPA and tax attorney in the US with the answer.

[Eaker]

It makes me a little uneasy that you, and a lot of people on this forum, think a little pre-emptive,extrajudicial punishment for my previous carelessness would be just fine and dandy, and a really good thing, just to "teach me a lesson".

I agree with you 100%. I think that it is so funny to put a single round in my revolver and point it at my wife and kids then pull the trigger!! We do it all the time and nobody has been hurt yet. It scares the heck out of them, but what the heck!! I have the right to point a possibly loaded gun at them and pull the trigger. As long as it doesn't go off then it is a good idea!

YET

You describe some stupid crap that you did that caused no harm. You were lucky. Lots of folks ain't so lucky. Their stupidity ended other's lives. Your logic dictates that shoplifting is okay if one is not caught.

Eaker

[mhking]

And that is bad how?

You don't consider exploiting loopholes in the law for the hell of it bad? There's no talking to you, then. No wonder things are falling apart.

[justshe]

Yep.......knees is my bet, too! But hey.......NO problem (/sarcasm)

[mhking]

The next time you go on an interstate or other highway, take along a 7 month old sized doll and try to duplicate what she was doing.

And then, perhaps, the father can tell us how that doesn't remove your attention from operating the vehicle.

Ah, but we can't worry about that - at least according to some here.

Barring that, perhaps, said mother can notify me when she plans on recklessly using the public roads; so I can keep my happy ass off of them.

[Ciexyz]

(sigh) I sense a new law will be on the books soon in all fifty states.

[sarasmom]

You missed my point.
But since you play russian roulette with your wife and child for fun and games...
It is not possible to legislate freedom.
It is only possible to legislate restrictions of freedom.
Since you brought up a really far fetched analogy, may I present mine:
It is incredibly stupid for people on a fixed retirement income to invest in high yield / high risk stocks. If too many ignorant investors engage in this type of risky behavior, other people can be hurt.Investing large sums of money in companies who have no actual profits is speculative, and dangerous.
It should be against the law.Those who are stupid enough to invest in dot com companies should spend a few hours in jail,even though no law against their stupidity can be found, because their ignorance has jeapordised society, and they deserve to be punished for what may happen if they are not lucky.
PUHLEESE.
It is incredibly stupid to golf in Florida, when a storm is near.Golphers should be excluded from health insurance covereage, because they drive up the premiums due to risky behavior.
Smoking is dangerous-go to jail.
Eating fast food is dangerous-go to jail.
Living is dangerous-go to jail.
Do anything dangerous, let a cop, or your neighbor, escort you to jail.
Screw freedom and the law, just go to jail if you do something some people consider you stupid.
The new law is,everyone goes to jail for acting stupidly, if some cop decides you are stuoid.
Screw law, or actual legal charges.
I get a badge, I think you are stupid, and off to jail you go.
Pray, Pray really hard, that I dont get a badge in your world.
Off to jail you would go.

[mylife]

YOW! I SURE KNOW HOW TO KILL A THREAD!!!

[Eaker]

You so missed my point that I don't know how to respond simply enough.

My point was that stupid behavior that does not bite your ass is still stupid behavior. I am not advocating more laws, I am advocating common sense.

Stupidity kills. Unfortunately it doesn't just kill the stupid.

Sometimes the stupid take others with them.

Eaker

[Xenalyte]

Speaking of the stupid, we seem to have hit the moron motherlode here.

[Eaker]

Preachin' to the choir sister!

TheMom enjoyed y'alls meeting and may become more active on this issue.

Eaker

[Xenalyte]

We would be THRILLED to have her - and you too!

[bootless]

OK, I've just got to say something here. Let me say that I'm a mom who breastfed, so I'm very familiar with the process. I also drive about 1,000 miles a week, both on the wonderful (ack) freeway system here in Northern California and all manners of surface streets.

Here's my question: what was the gosh-darn hurry where she could not pull the car over and nurse, and THEN resume the trip?

And here's my concern: for the baby. If a car (even several vehicles ahead) that had stopped suddenly at freeway speeds, it would have been extremely difficult to stop without rear-ending the car in front of her, or being rear-ended by the trailing car (or both). Your baby's head would take the majority of the unfortunately deadly impact.

And here's my question: Is it worth the risk?

Never mind parsing the laws. Laws are cold comfort to someone who has lost a child, or any other loved one.

Is it worth the risk?