This woman was warned about breastfeeding while riding a moped in traffic. Photo credit: Europics/Newscom.
If texting while driving is a bad idea, then breastfeeding while riding a moped is probably a really bad idea. But that didn’t stop a woman in central China from doing it anyway.
Witnesses reported that the woman was weaving in and out of traffic along a busy street in the city of Yuzhou when her 18-month-old son started to cry, according to Orange News. They said she started breastfeeding the infant while keeping one hand on the handlebar.
Officers undoubtedly worried the woman was one bad baby bump away from causing an accident. They pulled her over and gave her a warning, Orange News reported.
“She was risking her life, her son’s life and the lives of all the other road users,” a police spokesman told Orange News.
Breastfeeding is a natural way for mother and baby to bond, and it can save a family up to $1,500 a year on infant formula. It’s also can benefit the baby’s health: The Office of Women’s Health, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that, among other important health benefits, breastfeeding reduced the rate of sudden infant death syndrome by 36 percent, and might be associated with higher IQ later in life.
Yet The World Health Organization reports that breastfeeding rates in China remain quite low. Only 58 percent of newborn infants were exclusively breastfed and that number falls to 13.6 percent for babies between the ages of 5 and 6 months. By comparison, more than 76 percent of women in the U.S. breastfeed their newborns, and nearly half of American babies are still breastfeeding at 6 months old.
Certainly the Chinese government wants to encourage the practice of breastfeeding to improve the health of their youngest citizens. But this woman did not even bother to wear a helmet.
