Mom Jailed for Breastfeeding While Drinking, Waitress Fired Over It

[gitana1]

It has bearing on whether the waitress had reason to believe the baby MAY be in danger. This situation really puts the restaurant and waitress in a tricky situation. They can't refuse to serve the woman without exposing themselves to legal action. They can't really even ask her how much she has had to drink without likewise subjecting themselves to liability. If they continue to serve her and something does happen, they are going to have target on them. In this case, I think the best course of action, from a legal standpoint, was to notify the police.

This was an "off duty" waitress. Not the one serving her. Management didn't call the police or advise the off duty waitress to do so. The waitress' mother did via a text message. The waitress was later fired.

But anyhow, as you know, a business can absolutely refuse to serve any person as long as they are not discriminating due to race, religion, etc.:

Do Restaurants Have the Unrestricted Right to Refuse Service?
No. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly prohibits restaurants from refusing service to patrons on the basis of race, color, religion, or natural origin. In addition, most courts don’t allow restaurants to refuse service to patrons based on extremely arbitrary conditions. For example, a person likely can’t be refused service due to having a lazy eye.
So Are "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone" Signs in Restaurants Legal? Yes, however they still do not give a restaurant the power to refuse service on the basis of race, color, religion, or natural origin. These signs also do not preclude a court from finding other arbitrary refusals of service to be discriminatory. Simply put, restaurants that carry a "Right to Refuse Service" sign are subject to the same laws as restaurants without one. http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/restaurants-right-to-refuse-service.html

Further, they can totally ask her how much she has had to drink as it is actually against the law in Arkansas to sell alcohol to an intoxicated person:

ARKANSAS
TITLE 3. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
CHAPTER 4. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES GENERALLY – PERMITS
SUBCHAPTER 4. VIOLATIONS
§ 3-4-404. Class B violations.
The following acts on the part of the permittee are Class B violations:

(18) Selling to an intoxicated person;
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgovinfo.library.unt.edu%2Fngisc%2Freports%2Far.pdf&ei=Gn40U_-4OcrroATAnIGwBw&usg=AFQjCNFKBVEC6ms4pm35Q0hjE7K8GjVyjw&sig2=-M2vFiex52eK_aU18aLofQ&bvm=bv.63808443,d.cGU&cad=rja

The bottom line is that the lady who was arrested was released with no charges. That means she was not intoxicated nor was she found to have endangered her child. And the off-duty waitress who butted in? She lost her job for her conduct.

Those facts evidence, to me, what really happened here.

 

[gitana1]

Uk mail has her jail pic... She LOOKS like she had more than 2 drinks.

Or she was shocked and traumatized.

 

[K_Z]

My mom is from Holland and my dad from Spain so I totally get you. Over there, women just whip out their breasts to feed their kids, no covering necessary and no one leers. Or cares. Kids run around stark naked at the beach or pool until around 8, 9 or 0 and no one blinks an eye. People enjoy their lives. Wine and beer are part of life. Kids spill out of bars and pubs which always welcome them. And they can have a drink of Alcohol without the police arresting the Parents. And yet, the only people I have ever seen drunk in Europe have been Americans.

Let's face it. In the US we are governed by a culture that has deep, puritanical roots. And that includes the medical establishment.

True that! I have lived in Germany, and travelled throughout Europe. I've seen many pregnant women enjoying a glass of wine, or breast feeding while having a beer or wine. The science for moderate alcohol intake supports this. If one chooses to entirely abstain, that's fine. But the science does not "prove" that an occasional glass of wine or 2 irreparably damages a fetus inutero, or with breast feeding. That is a social construct from our collective history in the U.S.

The U.S does have a frighteningly puritanical relationship with alcohol, compared with many other places in the world, IMO. I lived in Japan and saw canned cocktails in vending machines. Teens don't buy them because they generally follow the rules for age.

In Germany I frequently saw groups of teens drinking mulled wine at christmas markets and wine fests, and never saw openly drunk kids. Kids learn and observe healthy ways to incorporate social drinking. That doesn't mean there are no alcoholics, or that there are no binge drinkers. They just have a much more integrated and healthy approach to social drinking as a culture. A daily glass or 2 of wine with dinner is not evidence of anything other than an appreciation of wine. But a social worker here might say that same behavior is unhealthy or evidence of a problem, and would characterize it negatively as "daily drinking".

In fact, at Freizheitland amusement park in Germany, there is a wine glass themed kids ride, similar to the teacups ride at Disney. You would NEVER see any kind of theme like that in the U.S.

http://www.freizeitpark-welt.de/freizeitparks/geiselwind/fotos/2006/weinfahrt02.jpg

The waitress should have been fired, IMO. She vastly overstepped her bounds. And that she was off duty, and not personally serving the woman makes it that much worse. At a minimum, she should have reported the situation to her boss to handle.

Off topic, but what an odd name for the town, "Toad Suck!" :floorlaugh:

 

[highflyer]

My mom is from Holland and my dad from Spain so I totally get you. Over there, women just whip out their breasts to feed their kids, no covering necessary and no one leers. Or cares. Kids run around stark naked at the beach or pool until around 8, 9 or 0 and no one blinks an eye. People enjoy their lives. Wine and beer are part of life. Kids spill out of bars and pubs which always welcome them. And they can have a drink of Alcohol without the police arresting the Parents. And yet, the only people I have ever seen drunk in Europe have been Americans.

Let's face it. In the US we are governed by a culture that has deep, puritanical roots. And that includes the medical establishment.

People enjoy their lives in the U.S. too. Liquor has nothing to do with enjoying life. Don't think anything you wouldn't feed your baby should be consumed while you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Am not against drinking in moderation but the health and welfare of an infant should come before the want of a drink.

 

[Gardenlady]

Great posts by K_Z and gitana.

My Portuguese mother told me to drink wine when breast feeding as it would help the milk come down faster - that's what her mother and aunts told her. She and my aunts did, I did too, and she was right!

America is so strangely prudish about sex and alcohol, and way uptight about motherhood as well. :crazy:

 

[fruity]

True that! I have lived in Germany, and travelled throughout Europe. I've seen many pregnant women enjoying a glass of wine, or breast feeding while having a beer or wine. The science for moderate alcohol intake supports this. If one chooses to entirely abstain, that's fine. But the science does not "prove" that an occasional glass of wine or 2 irreparably damages a fetus inutero, or with breast feeding. That is a social construct from our collective history in the U.S.

The U.S does have a frighteningly puritanical relationship with alcohol, compared with many other places in the world, IMO. I lived in Japan and saw canned cocktails in vending machines. Teens don't buy them because they generally follow the rules for age.

In Germany I frequently saw groups of teens drinking mulled wine at christmas markets and wine fests, and never saw openly drunk kids. Kids learn and observe healthy ways to incorporate social drinking. That doesn't mean there are no alcoholics, or that there are no binge drinkers. They just have a much more integrated and healthy approach to social drinking as a culture. A daily glass or 2 of wine with dinner is not evidence of anything other than an appreciation of wine. But a social worker here might say that same behavior is unhealthy or evidence of a problem, and would characterize it negatively as "daily drinking".

In fact, at Freizheitland amusement park in Germany, there is a wine glass themed kids ride, similar to the teacups ride at Disney. You would NEVER see any kind of theme like that in the U.S.

http://www.freizeitpark-welt.de/freizeitparks/geiselwind/fotos/2006/weinfahrt02.jpg

The waitress should have been fired, IMO. She vastly overstepped her bounds. And that she was off duty, and not personally serving the woman makes it that much worse. At a minimum, she should have reported the situation to her boss to handle.

Off topic, but what an odd name for the town, "Toad Suck!" :floorlaugh:

Bbm. She did and she went against her manager's instructions. I guess that's why she was fired.

Toad Suck totally had me lolling too. What a name!

 

[ziggy]

I am baffled by how easy it has become to be "outraged" in our society. I was born in 1960 and mothers in the 50's, 60's and 70's had a glass of wine or a beer when they were breastfeeding and smoked while pregnant. While I would do everything in my power to ensure prenatal care, it seems a lot of us were born without any adverse affects.

My parents also let us have wine with dinner and a cocktail during the Holidays. Neither my sibs or me have any addiction issues - we've never had any problems with alcohol and we still all drink socially.

When I visited France people were drinking wine with lunch! You'd get fired for that here or told you have a problem.

I'm having a hard time understanding two things:
1. Why breastfeeding is such a big freaking deal and
2. how the medical community jumps on this paranoia bandwagon

 

[ziggy]

And yeah, Toad Suck is a bizarre name for a town, but the suck part is that it is in a dry county!!!!

 

[CHERIE.T]

Pretty much every mother in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and France. Probably many mothers in Northern Europe as well. (ETA: In all of Europe, women often drink while breastfeeding. I did a bit of research). In Europe, having a few drinks while pregnant is not seen as the criminal medical neglect that it is here, for example and studies there show no ill effects from a drink a day. Same thing for breast feeding.

I've seen my cousins drink beers or wines while breast feeding. I didn't blink. And their kids are gorgeous, bright, intelligent kids.

I think we have a kind of hysterical, nannying, over-protective culture of fear in this country that believes anything that could possibly lead to even the most remote, slightest risk to the safety of a child, should be condemned.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world lives and their children aren't scared to do so.

my post plainly states imoo..
thumbs down

 

[gitana1]

my post plainly states imoo..
thumbs down

I was responding to the question you asked.

 

[blue22]

[bbm]

this is exactly what she did - she drank two beer (according to her) and then nursed her child within the two hour or longer window quoted above

she said they were there for an hour and a half

She did not do that.
This is what you quoted. "Nursing should take place 2 hours or longer after the alcohol intake to minimize its concentration in the ingested milk."

AFTER the alcahol intake. She was nursing WHILE she was drinking. Not only that, the waitress claimed she was drinking liquor...which is why she took that action. I honestly think the mother sounds like a complete idiot (not even factoring in the drinking,) so I tend to think the waitress saw her drinking more or something more heavy than the mother claims.

 

[MyBelle]

It has bearing on whether the waitress had reason to believe the baby MAY be in danger. This situation really puts the restaurant and waitress in a tricky situation. They can't refuse to serve the woman without exposing themselves to legal action. They can't really even ask her how much she has had to drink without likewise subjecting themselves to liability. If they continue to serve her and something does happen, they are going to have target on them. In this case, I think the best course of action, from a legal standpoint, was to notify the police.

BBM. ITA. The article states the waitress was growing more concerned as the alcohol consumption continued and the baby was increasingly fussy. Both Toad Suck and Conway are in an area of Arkansas where the folks are very religious and alcohol is frowned upon or forbidden entirely....and so is marrying your cousin, iykwim.

Years ago we were there during Toad Suck Daze. As with every story, there is probably much more to be told....