Heather posted:
http://cbs11tv.com/health/local_story_227131425.html

Has this been discussed on Lactnet (I've been on a break)?

Can the courts really do this? On such flimsy evidence?

I hope our UK courts don't see this :(  It wouldn't take much.....

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
__________

I have posted on some other fora trying to get more information about this case but have had no direct contact with the mom.  First, more accurately, there is a recommendation from a guardian ad litum that the court order mom to stop breastfeeding.  Thus far there is in fact no court order and my understanding is that the court will consider the recommendations at a hearing in September.

To the more important question - can the court order a mother to wean - the answer is "yes" and it is not an uncommon occurrence in U.S. family courts.  The court in a custody case can make any decision based on its assessment of what is in the best interests of the child.  More commonly, weaning issues arise in the context of visitation arrangements involving overnights away from mom in which weaning may not explicitly be ordered but the visitation arrangement by its terms makes continuation of the breastfeeding relationship impossible or more limited.

As for flimsy evidence, we don't have all the fats.  However, based on the press reports, such notable experts as Thomas Hale and Jack Newman have weighed in on behalf of the mother and apparently have been ignored, which is certainly disturbing.  I will certainly be watching this case closely.

Yours,
Jake Marcus, J.D.
Legal Director
Birth Without Boundaries.

The content of this communication may not be reproduced or forwarded, in whole or in part, without the express consent of Jake Aryeh Marcus.

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