The baby with police officers in Shiyan. Photo: Handout
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2109319/chinese-mother-feared-have-passed-drug-addiction-baby China
Chinese mother feared to have passed drug addiction to baby
Police believe woman with history of drug taking did not stop taking methamphetamine while she breastfed her child, news website reports
A police officer with the woman’s baby. Photo: Handout
A young Chinese mother has been arrested over drug offences and may have passed her drug addiction on to her seven-month-old baby girl through breastfeeding, a newspaper reported.
The 23-year-old woman and her child were taken to a police station in Shiyan in Hubei province on Wednesday after they were found with another drug addict, the news website ThePaper.cn reported on Thursday.
The unemployed woman was tested positive for drugs and was found to have taken methamphetamine.
The finding sparked concern that she might have passed her drug addiction on to her baby as she breastfed the child regularly and did not cut back on her drug consumption throughout her pregnancy, the report quoted police as saying.
Police said the child seemed abnormally quiet for a baby of her age.
The woman’s drug taking goes back at least five years. She also did not stop taking drugs throughout her pregnancy for her first child three years ago and the baby was later given up for adoption, the report said.
Police decided not to give the woman, whose full name was not given, the usual punishment of 10 days administrative detention.
Chinese internet users expressed anger towards the mother and sympathy for the child.
“What a poor baby and what a wicked mother,” one internet user said.
“Unforgiveable,” wrote another.