Case of Woman Breast-Feeding On Demand Overturned

by Lesley Kennedy (Subscribe to Lesley Kennedy's posts)
Jun 23rd 2011 10:40AM

Credit: Getty Images

Breast-feeding has come with it's share of questions and concerns for years. Yes, we all know it's the ideal way to feed a newborn, but is it OK to do in public? How long should you breast-feed? What age should you stop? Can you breast-feed after drinking a glass of wine? How often should you let a baby breast-feed?

It's that last question that has sparked an international debate, after a Spanish woman's 15-month-old child was taken away from her because of the woman's "chaotic" breast-feeding patterns, the Guardian in London reports.

Officials from the Madrid social services department said breast-feeding on demand and letting the girl sleep in bed with the mom, who is 21 and known only as Habiba, were factors, the newspaper says.

"She uses breast-feeding as a pacifier and a toy, offering her breast any time the girl cries and letting her take it anywhere, no matter the time and context," an edited version of the report states, according to the Guardian.

The case had childcare activists up in arms.

"This baby must be returned to her mother as a matter of urgency and should be able to suckle whenever she wants to," Sheila Kitzinger tells the Guardian.

Turns out, supporters' cries may have been heard. Habiba was reunited with her daughter, Alma, Wednesday, the newspaper reports, after the social services committee overturned their earlier decision.

"It was an amazing re-encounter between mother and child," Habiba's lawyer, Juan Ignacio de la Mata, tells the Guardian. "The child wouldn't leave her mother alone and you could see both of them slowly being transformed by the encounter. It was moving and very beautiful."