I agree with Nicole's assessment of the situation.

There is too much here that smacks of patriarchal control of mother's
bodies.

It reminds me of what a woman has to go through if she has a home birth and
something goes wrong. Never mind that she has carefully chosen her
midwives. Never mind that the same thing could have happened in a hospital.
Never mind that worse things could have happened. If a mother births at
home she accepts full responsibility for the outcome....if it isn't good
she will bear the blame alone. If she birthed in the hospital, took an
epidural, needed a forceps delivery, fed ABM...well, she would be treated
with great tenderness and sympathy if the outcome were not perfect.

When a mom breastfeeds, goes against the cultural norm, she will pay a high
price if that doesn't go well. Never mind if formula feeding kills babies.
Never mind if a baby would die no matter which feeding choice was made. If
she was breastfeeding she clearly is at fault.

This could extend to almost anything. When a baby dies in it's mom's bed it
must be her fault. After all, she was not abiding by the ordained cultural
mores.

I hope this jury  did the right thing but...given the fact that they are
from the same bottlefeeding culture that would deny a baby the right to be
fed in public, I am skeptical.

Susan Keith-Hergert RN, MS, CPN, IBCLC

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