Feeding on the Go - was she right or wrong??
MomofTay&Sam wrote: Mother Is Stopped for Breastfeeding While Driving
P I T T S B U R G H, June 19— A woman is facing child endangerment charges for trying to breastfeed her daughter while driving from Detroit to Pittsburgh.
Catherine Donkers, 29, was apparently spotted by a truck driver while nursing her 7-month-old on the Ohio Turnpike. The driver became alarmed and called the state Highway Patrol.
Officers tried to pull Donkers over, but they say she wouldn't stop until she got to a toll booth in Portage County. She offered an affidavit as identification and was cited for not having a license, police say.
"It's not like I'm trying to change a diaper while I'm driving, she pretty much just lays there on the pillow in my lap," said Donkers. "I would certainly submit that talking on a cell phone causes far more distraction than nursing a child while she's just laying there."
Dueling State Laws
Donkers also claims she did nothing wrong because Michigan has an exemption to its child restraint law for nursing mothers. But police say they have to abide by Ohio laws because that's where the traffic stop occurred.
Donkers said she doesn't think her actions were excessively dangerous, and she believes she can follow the laws of her home state when driving on an interstate highway.
The woman said she fed her baby before leaving Detroit but the child became hungry again. Her husband, Brad Barnhill, said his wife usually stops to nurse, but was forced to nurse while driving due to a busy schedule.
"Most of the time when she runs back and forth between here and her mom's place or here and her home, she stops at the rest stop to nurse. But, that turns a five-hour trip into a seven-hour trip and she had things to do," he said.
Mother Has Car Seat
Donkers has a car seat for her baby and says she uses it often and thinks it's important to do so — just not when the baby needs to nurse.
"It's lawful for me to nurse my child while I'm driving, it's not like she's sitting on the floor mat and is unrestrained for a seven-hour drive. She's only out of that seat while I'm nursing her."
In addition to the endangering charge, Donkers is accused of child car seat violations. She and her husband say they plan to fight all charges and file a lawsuit
Source
MommyToAshley replied: I would never take my baby out of the car seat while driving no matter what my state laws are. She should have pulled over to nurse the baby IMO. The little bit of time she saved is not worth the risk she took.
supermom replied: Yes, I have to agree - there is no excuse for not having a child (properly) restrained in a car seat. Especially if SHE was also doing the driving, imagine what a distraction it would be for her to do both!!
mckayleesmom replied: I know its hard to bear hearing your child when she/he is hungry, but whats worse, a hungry child or a child threw the windshield? I can't even in understand how this woman could even try to defend her actions. And like my husband said,,he would be peeved if he found out I put Mckaylee in that dangerous of a situation and embarrased if I tried to make an excuse for it,,there is no excuse fot that. Thats as bad as the the lady who's baby drowned in the bathtub cause she quote "only left him for 10 minutes while she took a phone call and went on the back porch to smoke a ciggarette". That baby was only 3 weeks old. I don't know if anyone saw that on forensics, but that was the one where the husband came home and found his wife fast asleep and she claimed someone must have kidnapped the baby and really he drowned in the bathtub and she went and threw his little body in a lake. EEEERRRRR...sorry guys,,,,stupidity #$%%$% me off.
mckayleesmom replied: I guess I should add that I am not intending to offend anyone that does do this, even though I probably did,,mad in the moment,,but I really wish that you would consider what could happen and pull over to feed,,,you don't want to lose your child cause your going to be late. You might be late but at least you have the one thing you can never replace. 
CantWait replied: WRONG WRONG WRONG JUST PLAIN WRONG........
So what if she wasn't distracted, not that I believe that, but what if someone else hit her??????
amynicole21 replied: I agree, there is no reason to risk your child's life. Being busy or in a hurry is no excuse 
supermom replied: I think what I find the hardest to believe is that Michigan "supposedly" has an exception to the child restraint law.....I am wondering just how much of that line of (imho) BS is true......I can't see a state making an exception in this case, no matter whether you are BF or not.....
Anyone here live in Michigan? Can you find out?? If they do, that is just plain stupid......there shouldn't be any reason for a law like that (again, IMHO) even if you can't BF while your kid is in their car seat very comfortably - that is what rest-stops are for.......maybe we should mount a "Parenting Club E-Mail Campaign" - teehee -
OklahomaSooners replied: 99 times out of a hundred nothing would happen.. but what about that one time.. just because the MOTHER might be a good driver does not mean there aren't thousands of other bad drivers on the road with her that could have ran into her at any given moment.
Hillbilly Housewife replied:
WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!! what the heck was wrong with THAT woman? Was she a teenager? Drug addict? Some people are just plain STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd rather read about someone driving and nursing than reading about a drowned infannt thrown in a lake after the mother let it drown for a smoke.
KWIM?
I can see why in some states...there is an unquestioned right to leave your baby at any hospital or fire station instead of killing it or beating it.... That's just disgusting. Any infant killer is STUPID. Leaving a baby in a bathtub unnattended.... STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, hearing about infant deaths really make me SICK.
Kaitlin'smom replied: I would never drive while BFing her! Not even as a passinger! I dont trust the other drivers on the road! I just find that wrong, wrong, wrong! I do know that back when I was a baby my mom would sit in the back seat on the way somewhere and BF me. But times have really changes and I would never risk my childs life like that! When I was driving and Kaitlin got hungry I pulled over and parked in a park and climbed in the back seat and BF her. Now I have feed her baby food while she was in her seat and DH was driving. Sorry but you cant take your states laws with you! You have to abide by the state your in! Oh sorry that just makes me mad! Sorry if I offend anyone I just would not do it!
Mommieto2Girls replied: That is down right stupidity!!!! How can she think it's alright to put her life and her baby's life in jeopardy like that. I could never do something so stupid like that. How could her husband think it's ok. He must have lost his mind to. I would never take Maddie out of her carseat unless it was a dieing emergency (chocking, fire, accident)I would much rather hear my baby scream for a 5 hour trip than lose her forever. It kills me to hear of such ignorance.
victoire2002 replied: Wow, she is certainly misguided. What a tragedy it would be if she were to be rear-ended. It doesn't take much force to cause an injury--- I have a friend who was going 25 mph who almost died due to a "slight" crash. This is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable!
Vicki
p.s. This adds more fuel to my theory about parenting. We need licenses to hunt, fish, own a gun, drive, etc. What about licenses and classes to be a PARENT?????? The most important role in life, and we're letting very unqualified people raise kids without any educational support!!!
MommyToAshley replied: What I think is ironic is that she is doing one of the best things she can do for her baby by BF, but then is sooo careless when doing it.
mustangmomma1981 replied: There has to be something really wrong with the woman! I think that her husband is just as bad for sticking up for her. My hubby would had given h*ll for doing something like that.
MamaMartie replied: She was verywrong and if she cannot see that then she is stupid too. I don't care what she needed to do that day. She should have pulled over, or even better parked at a rest stop. There is just no excuse for it and she deserves not only a ticket, but to be charged with child endangerment. I would never ever let any of my children out of their car seats for any reason while the car was moving. Shoot, I scold my kids for unbuckling before I turn the care off in the driveway.
I cannot believe that it is legal to BF your child while driving. Until recently it was illegal to BF in public in a lot of places. I cannot believe that there is a law that allows it in a moving vehicle. 
msjennbug replied: I cant believe anyone would be in a big enough hurry to not stop and take a few minutes, heck even if it added two hours like they claim, to pull over and safely nurse/feed/handle their baby!
Yes, there are state laws that permit you to take the infant out of their child safety seat to nurse them while moving on the road. I cannot believe that the law would include when it's YOU driving! I'm looking for the list of state laws that show you can do this, btw.
in the meantime, here's a table of state laws for child restraints and their fines: http://www.iihs.org/safety_facts/state_law...s/restrain2.htm
http://www.iihs.org/safety_facts/state_law...s/restrain4.htm
aha, from this site you can download a word document with the state law summaries: http://www.actsinc.org/opl.cfm
and it says, for michigan, "There are exceptions for children being nursed"
Idaho, TN, WI, WY and NC have the same or a similar exception.
Personally, I dont care what the law would allow me to do, common sense says DONT!
*sigh*
Jenn
supermom replied: Hmmmmm....I didn't think it was ever illegal to BF in public, but they could (and unfortunately still do) use the "indecent exposure" laws to get women to quit. I was reading some of this a while back on the lalecheleague.org website, but it's been a while since I've really read it. What they are trying to do is change the indecent exposure laws to exclude BF and/or enact laws that specifically protect a mom's right to BF - at least here in the US, and we're the most prudish about it - 
I found this cool site that lists legislation state by state -
50 States Summary of Breastfeeding Laws
Naturally, Kansas isn't one of them - but I really don't care, arrest me!!
supermom replied:
Hey, now, there's a couple of states in that list that have got it right!! A $500 fine - that's more like it, rather than the $10 or $20 token fine - WTG Maine!!
~CrazieMama~ replied: I agree, I would never take my baby out of her car seat for any reason while driving. I think that woman desrves whatever she is being charged with.
kit_kats_mom replied: How foolish! I would never take DD out of her carseat while the vehicle is moving. My question is how did she get a squirmy, hungry infant out of a car seat which, if placed properly, was in the back seat if she was driving? If she pulled over to get the baby out, she should have just fed him then. If she didn't pull over to get the baby out, then all the other drivers on the road should sue her because she put all of their lives in danger. Bad call lady!
If I was in that big of a hurry, I would have had someone else drive and sat in the back and nursed the baby while s/he was in the carseat. I've done that on long drives and I have the bruised ribs to prove it.
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