Drunk baby
July 26, 2007 by Sherry Osborne
Filed under Parenting
Parents Behaving Badly has reported a story about a baby boy who was born drunk – drunk as in six times the legal limit. The full story says that the woman, residing in Poland, was obviously very drunk herself when she arrived at the hospital to give birth. Apparently the doctors believe the baby will most likely suffer from permanent neurological damage from the high alcohol level in his tiny body.
The story makes me sad on so many levels. Most of us do so much to take care of our babies, both before and after they’re born. When I was pregnant my doctor told me that I should generally avoid alcohol but that I could feel free to enjoy an occasional (ie one or less per month) alcoholic beverage. Because of his recommendation, I did have a glass of wine at my birthday both times, and one other glass at a major holiday dinner. Beyond that, I didn’t think it was worth the risk and stuck with water or juice, and if I really wanted something else I was able to have an alcohol-free beer or alcohol-free cooler which tasted the same without the risk.
That being said, there is a huge difference between having an occasional drink and being rip-roaring hammered. If she drank that much so as to affect her little boy that badly, what else did she do? Was this drinking a regular occurrence? Exactly HOW MUCH damage has she really done to that poor child?
I just don’t understand what goes through someone’s head sometimes. I hope she gets legal payback.
We don’t really know how much alcohol it takes to cause fetal alcohol syndrome — therefore current, research supported, recommendations are for pregnant women to not drink even a single drop during pregnancy.
Please don’t feel like I’m scolding, ok? I just wanted the info to be out there. I hate scolding comments, they suck.
I couldn’t agree more! Here (montevideo-Uruguay) last week a woman killed his newborn baby with a knife. I don’t understand what this kind of woman are thinking (I guess they do not think)…
Wow – what is up with the harsh brutality that is being laid upon small children and babies now of days. I don’t understand it and don’t know if I want to understand it. I set here wondering if I’ll ever become pregnant and then read stories like this and I’m like – how can this woman become pregnant, give birth to the child and I can’t?
In instances like this; I think their ability to have children should be taken away from them. That may seem harsh to some but it’s the way I see it.
The stories on that sight and on http://childcaregonewrong.blogspot.com are so scary. I think it’s a 50/50 split when deciding where chidren are better off- with parents or caregivers. Some parents are pretty awful. A woman in the Bronx was just arrested for giving cocaine and marijuana to her 3 year old.