“Rehab Addict” Star Defending Decision To Breastfeed In Bitter Custody Battle With Ex

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“Rehab Addict” star Nicole Curtis has been forced to defend herself over breastfeeding her son in a custody battle with her ex.

Curtis has been accused of using breastfeeding as an excuse to keep her two-and-a-half-year-old son Harper away from his father, Shane McGuire.

McGuire filled for equal custody in a court filing six months after Harper’s birth in 2015. However, Curtis claimed she needed more time with her son in order to nurse him. The two have been embroiled in a hostile custody battle ever since.

Curtis told the judge that Harper needed to be with her as he depended on her body to be fed. The judge told her to breast pump and send the milk with her son when he was visiting his father in Minnesota.

Curtis is a strong advocate for attachment parenting and breastfeeding. Speaking about the judge’s decision, Nicole told People that she physically could not produce enough milk by pumping and that her son refused to drink it unless it came straight from her nipple.

“He had never had a bottle before, and then all of a sudden that was his only option while he was with his dad. I had no idea that a judge could say, “You’re court ordered to not feed your exclusively breastfed child.”” she said.
Curtis claims that she had to breast pump in front of a court appointee to prove that she was unable to produce enough milk for her son.

Clearly miffed by the decision she says “It’s important that children have both of their parents. But preventing me from breastfeeding my child just so he can see the dad is not right.”

Despite her claims to this fact, McGuire’s attorney, Jerry Cavellier argued that Harper had no problem drinking formula from a bottle when he was just six months old.

Apart from being tied up in the custody battle, Curtis has come under fire from people who feel Harper is too old to still be breastfed.

But she has hit back at her critics. “It’s not like he’s seven or eight. He’s still a baby. Every single day I have to weather criticism about how my child is too old to breastfeed. But when he weans, it’s going to be his decision. I truly believe it’s the child’s choice,” she said.

Curtis and McGuire had a brief relationship before Harper’s birth in 2015 and she said she was preparing to raise her boy alone before McGuire decided to get involved when the baby was six months old.

Since then the two parents have fought to come to an agreement on what can only be described as a messy custody battle. In 2016 it was reported that the pair got into a fight in the middle of the night resulting in Curtis “dragging” their son away from his father and back home with her.

McGuire, a businessman from Minnesota, recently bought a house in Detroit so he could spend more time with his son. He and Curtis reportedly share occasional weekends too.

Unfortunately, Curtis is no stranger to legal sagas. Apparently, her own mother filed a restraining order against her for “fits of rage” and “her hatred” of her. However, a judge at the time did not grant the order on account of lack of evidence.

Furthermore, Curtis fought for custody of her eldest son, Ethan who is now 19, whose father missed his birth because he was in prison on a DUI manslaughter charge.

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