Mother Drinks, Breastfeeds, Gets Arrested

This week, 28-year-old Arkansas mother Tasha Adams went to a restaurant with her parents and three children, including her six-month-old baby, after attending a funeral. Adams had a couple of beers throughout the evening in an hour and a half, and then breastfed her child, according to what she later told ABC's 20/20. Then, Adams was arrested for child endangerment for drinking while breastfeeding — after one of the restaurant's waitresses decided to call the police.

Here's the catch: Arkansas law does not prohibit breastfeeding and drinking alcohol. In fact, it doesn't say anything about breastfeeding and drinking. Additionally, the research on breastfeeding and alcohol consumption has not reached a consensus on whether mixing the two practices is dangerous or not. All the same, the police decided to arrest Adams for endangerment.

Jackie Conners, the off-duty waitress who reported Adams to the police, told ABC's 20/20 that she had seen the family "having a good time, just drinking," but then "things started getting louder and louder, and then the baby started getting fussy." Then she saw Adams start to breastfeed Ana (however, Adams was not drinking alcohol at that time.)

Conners reported this to management, but the manager decided not to take action against Adams. After consulting with her mother over the phone, Conners decided to take things into her own hands and call the police.

Adams has now been released from jail, and charges against her have been dropped. Conners has also been fired from her job as waitress.

Unfortunately, several news stories have called Adams "boozy," though she insists that she only had two beers — and that police didn't give her a breathalyzer to see how much she had drunk.