One mother sues Delta for kicking her off a plane for breastfeeding without

[pnwmom]

covering up under a blanket.

Another accidentally smothers her baby when she falls asleep while nursing it on a plane. What do you want to bet that the second mother was trying to nurse her four week old under a blanket?

What a tragedy.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/09/Mom-sues-Delta-Airlines-over-breastfeeding/UPI-21591255067399/

BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A New Mexico woman has sued Delta Airlines over being thrown off a flight in Burlington, Vt., for refusing to cover herself while breastfeeding her baby.
Delta and Freedom Airlines Inc., which operated the Delta Connections commuter flight, are both named as defendants, The Burlington Free Press reported Thursday. Emily Gillette's lawyer filed the suit this week in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
In court papers, Gillette said flight attendants ordered her off the plane when she refused to cover herself with a blanket while nursing her 22-month-old daughter. She said her breast could not be seen and she did not behave belligerently.
Gillette said the incident, three years ago, made her feel "shamed and humiliated" and she continues to suffer anxiety about breastfeeding her second daughter in public places.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2009/12/02/Mother-accidentally-smothers-suckling-baby/UPI-13141259798380/

LONDON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A mother may have fallen asleep while breastfeeding and accidentally smothered her suckling infant aboard a flight from Washington to Kuwait, police say.
Crew on the United Airlines flight heard the 29-year-old mother's screams after she had woken, the Uxbridge Gazette said Wednesday.
The flight was diverted to Heathrow Airport Nov. 24, and the infant was pronounced dead at Hillingdon Hospital at 10:35 a.m. local time.
"The death is being treated as unexplained and the child abuse investigation team is investigating the circumstances," a spokesman from Scotland Yard said. "A post-mortem examination took place on Nov. 27 at Great Ormond Street Hospital and we're awaiting the results."

[Oregone]

1. So the cover blanket caused the mom to fall asleep and the baby to smother directly?

[pnwmom]

6. No, the blanket covered the baby's face, reducing the oxygen to the baby

and keeping the woman's seatmate (if she had one) from noticing anything was happening to the baby.

The worst possible scenario, if you were to fall asleep while holding a baby, would be that you started out with a blanket already covering the baby's head!

[GMA]

2. The flight attendants were probably surprised to see a toddler breastfeeding.

The irony is, a toddler's head, being bigger than an infant's, covers more of the exposed breast, and a toddler is usually quieter when nursing. There's just no winning. I breast fed four of my five children, a couple until around three years of age. I chose not to nurse in public, but I'm sure that few, if any, passers-by would have realized what was happening.

The other case is just heartbreaking...

[Political Heretic]

3. I swear some people go purposefully look for breast feeding news to throw DU into an uproar

:popcorn:

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. +1

[pnwmom]

14. I'm amazed that "progressives" are often so prudish about breastfeeding. n/t

[Political Heretic]

36. I'm not - just commenting on the garanteed flame thread that is incoming. :)

[DemBones DemBones]

43. So am I. Breasts are for feeding babies. The fact

that men like breasts doesn't change their elemental purpose as baby feeding devices.

[Common Sense Party]

4. The thing I loved about South America was that no one was ashamed to have breastfeeding

in full view. Time for lunch? Whip it out. No big deal.

[Oregone]

10. Thats how it is here often

I live in BC. Ive seen women sitting down on a busy sidewalk, whipped out in full view, feeding, without even an attempt to hide anything.

A Walmart employee asked someone to do it in the bathroom recently and they had to issue an apology immediately as a company

My wife still prefers to cover

[pnwmom]

12. Would you want to eat your dinner in a public restroom? n/t

[Oregone]

15. Well, if its good enough for soliciting sex, you would think...

[pnwmom]

18. Might be good enough for Sen. Craig . . . . n/t

[imdjh]

20. The proper mother has a light weight scarf to preserve modesty. You obviously admire heathens.

[Common Sense Party]

38. Nice post, Hitler.

Free Republic is that way, Reverend Falwell.

[havocmom]

5. Could have been failure to keep breast from covering baby's nose that did it

Not necessarily the blanket. Women should not fall asleep while nursing their children. Sorry, the airline is not at fault. An awake mother can keep a finger in place to hold breast away from tiny nose. It's part of the job.

[pnwmom]

8. But the blanket is keeping the mother and anyone sitting next to her from seeing

how the baby's nose is positioned. It's not something you can feel. I nursed three babies and I didn't keep a finger in there for any of them. Neither did anyone else I knew. After I got a baby positioned, I just watched what I was doing, and shifted the baby if I need to.

And overtired mothers of four week old babies can fall asleep without intending to.

Any airline that tries to require that a baby's head be covered up while it's breastfeeding is contributing to the risk that a tragedy could occur.

[havocmom]

13. If you're awake, you can feel that your finger is holding your breas off kid's nose

blanket or no blanket. If the mother was asleep, THAT was the problem.

[pnwmom]

17. If you're NOT using a blanket, you can see that a nose is getting obstructed.

Even if a finger is in place, you can't know that it's doing the job unless you can see the baby's nose, too.

Mothers of four week old babies are often exhausted. She probably didn't plan to fall asleep. But when it happened, if the baby's head was covered, the covering was reducing the oxygen getting to the baby -- and preventing any seatmates or anyone else from noticing what was happening to the baby.

[havocmom]

22. The woman was asleep, right? How was that the blanket's fault

Blanket or no blanket, if she was asleep, she wasn't paying attention to the child's ability to breath.

[pnwmom]

25. You're assuming the baby was smothered by the mother's breast. Just as likely

is that a blanket covering the baby reduced the oxygen and ended up smothering it.

Sudden infant death has often been connected to blankets or other materials covering a baby's head.

[havocmom]

28. seems reasonable the breast was in closer proximity than the aledged blanket

Breast is denser than blanket, and we KNOW the breast was there, while we do not know the whereabouts of the blanket.

Are you OK this evening? Is there someone there with you? Might be a good idea to talk to someone in person.

[pnwmom]

30. I think you're projecting. Thanks for your concern, though. n/t

[KittyWampus]

39. You are also projecting, or "making shit up", in other words. You have NO IDEA if a blanket

caused a lack of oxygen.

What we do know from the story- Mother falling asleep while breastfeeding= potentially lethal mistake.

[pnwmom]

41. If you re-read the OP, you'll see I never made any statement otherwise --

just said that I BET that there was some sort of blanket involved. And I still think that the chances are great that there was.

On the other hand, there's little question that a blanket over a face causes a person to re-breathe exhaled air, and that even light blankets in a baby's crib have been linked to an increased risk of SIDS.

[imdjh]

9. Oh for God's sake. Go ahead and sue, but give the world a little credit.

Gillette said the incident, three years ago, made her feel "shamed and humiliated" and she continues to suffer anxiety about breastfeeding her second daughter in public places.

Anger, annoyance, vengeful- these are all normal reactions to how she was treated. Shamed and humiliated? Get out of my court room. You're either a liar or a mess, either way I am not interested in what you have to say.

Sorry, but this long term psychological damage crap is quickly replacing the big padded collar and whiplash as the crutch and imaginary injury of the day.

Be honest. Sue because they pissed you off and you want some money to make up for it.

[pnwmom]

11. Or sue because, if you win, some other brand new mother won't accidentally smother

her baby under a blanket.

A breastfeeding baby can often spend 45 minutes nursing, even more. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened on a plane before.

[imdjh]

16. Except the second article doesn't mention a blanket. It blames the chair...

.... presumably the angle or width. It also doesn't mention the mother of the infant that actually died, suing.

[pnwmom]

19. No, but what do you think the odds are that this Kuwaiti woman was covering up?

Even if she wasn't, the issue remains: a blanket over the head reduces the oxygen getting to the baby. This can't be a good idea.

[havocmom]

23. Women have used shawls to cover nursing for a few hundred years

It's not paying attention that causes problems, not the binky, and you are getting mighty worked up without even knowing if a blanket was involved anyway. Supposition over something, not known facts?

It's the falling asleep on the job thing that is dangerous, just like sleeping with a small child in your bed can result in tragedy for similar reasons: body parts of adult obstructing breathing of small child.

Calm down before you bust a vessel.

[pnwmom]

26. "Calm down before you bust a vessel"? When haven't I been calm?

Or is that just what you say when someone politely disagrees with you?

[havocmom]

32. You are right, you are the very picture of calm, clear logic

We will have the blanket, whether it exists or not, shot at dawn. I, will draw and quarter myself as soon as the blanket has been punished.

I have no problem with the reality that people will disagree with me. It is the failure of logic and jumping to conclusions that annoys me. If my that my theory is likely is bad, how come your insistence that your theory is right is OK? And what about that blanket? Does anyone have a description of the blanket? Are we sure there was a blanket in this event? We are sure there was a breast and it seems a sleeping mother was at one end of it.

My concern is that you might just be working yourself up to a point that is unwise for your well being. So sorry that I give a shit about that, but, ah well, that is one of my annoying quirks.

[pnwmom]

33. LOL

at your over-reaction.

[kiva]

21. The second article says nothing about a blanket -

it does have a warning, however, about women breastfeeding on airplanes. Do you have any links to a story that actually indicates that the infant was smothered by a blanket, or did you just make up the connection?

[pnwmom]

24. I just used logic. The risk of sudden infant death is higher when a baby's face

is covered by a cloth.

A blanket over an infant's face is not a good idea. It both reduces the oxygen going to the baby and prevents the mother from seeing how the baby is doing.



Whether or not this particular dead infant was covered by a blanket isn't important, except to that poor family. The point is that it isn't good for a baby to be nursed under a blanket, especially in a situation where a tired mother could accidentally fall asleep.

[kiva]

27. What surprised me was the comment about the airline seats

being a danger for breastfeeding - I wonder how many mothers who fly are aware of this?

[pnwmom]

29. I wondered about that too. Could they be taking about the narrowness of the seats?

We would all benefit from less cramped seating, but that's not going to happen, unfortunately.

[tigereye]

31. it's very sad- you would think that there would have been a way to

have the baby's head/ nose free and still cover the rest of her body if that was a concern. I can't remember ever falling asleep when breast-feeding, although I can certainly see how someone might in that scenario...



It is bizarre that everyone worries so much about breasts, though. For God's sake, it's not as if most people haven't seen one at some time in their lives. :eyes: I'd rather people just deal with it and not look, than a baby end up suffocating...

[Johonny]

35. Is there evidence at all for your claims?

I did a quick look and couldn't find anything on blankets seriously cutting Oxygen supply.

[pnwmom]

37. Read about SIDS. There's plenty of evidence linking blankets and other materials

in a crib or parent's bed to SIDS.

[TicketyBoo]

42. "Prevents the mother from seeing how the baby is doing"?

If the mother were AWAKE, she would know when the baby stopped suckling and would be able to check on the baby at that point.

Whether or NOT there was a blanket, the mother falling asleep was the problem here.

[Thickasabrick]

34. The mother fell asleep while breastfeeding and when she woke

up the baby was dead.

[phasma ex machina]

40. slo night

:popcorn: