Wet Nursing

Would you nurse another woman's baby? We hear stories of heroic women during disasters breastfeeding two, three or even up to eight babies so they won't starve. Would you do it?

If, for some reason, you could not nurse your own baby, would you hire another woman to do it if you were financially capable of doing so? The benefits of breastfeeding are well known, and it seems that they continue to discover more good things about it every day.

With all the issues surrounding formula feeding like contaminants in the formula, recalls and other problems, wet nursing almost seems like a dream come true. Generations ago, wet nursing was popular. As described in Gabrielle Palmer's "The Politics of Breastfeeding," noblewomen used wet nurses because their families dictated that they must be ready to breed again and produce more heirs. Some women made a good living for their own families by wet nursing.

Judith Waterford, a wet nurse in the early 1800s, was written about by the medical community. She worked as a wet nurse for over 50 years, nursed six children of her own and was still able to produce milk at the ripe old age of 81. At her peak, it is said "she produced two quarts of breastmilk unfailing every day." She was sad to report at the age of 75 that she could not produce enough milk to feed more than one baby at a time. Can you imagine it?

How many of you would sign up to be a wet nurse if you could still nurse your own child at the same time? I freely admit that I would. I've nursed eight children of my own. They are all healthy and have grown well. If I could help support my family by providing the best baby food on earth to someone's child, I'd do it.

Maybe we should form a wet nursing co-op. Those of us who are confident in our nursing abilities could offer to nurse the children of those who for one reason or another cannot. Who benefits the most? The baby! Who suffers? The formula companies! They promise nutrition they cannot deliver, especially to those babies most at risk. If only we could figure out how to be paid for our efforts, everyone would benefit. Our families would have more income. Babies would be fed more nutritious food. Other parents could rest easy knowing their babies were getting the best even though they could not provide it themselves.

I know someone will bring up the problem of contagion. Any woman interested in wet nursing would have to have a health screen, of course. This should be a no-brainer. From what I read, some companies in California that offer nannies are also starting to offer wet nursing services. Is the wet nurse making a comeback?

What do you think? Please post comments below.

Breastfeeding Politics

I hate politics. All the arguing. No listening. Just dissension everywhere you look. This week Facebook was once again targeted for removing photos of breastfeeding. Why can't people consider breastfeeding as a normal part of life?

I started reading The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business today. It was written by Gabrielle Palmer. I've only finished chapter one and I am already nodding my head in agreement. The author states, "Women have had to prove (as it happens very successfully) that they are 'as good as' men, but men do not yet have to show that they are as good as women." This statement really hit hard. It's true.

Elsewhere in this chapter she discusses how the very men who are discovering the miraculous assets of breastmilk seem to demand that no woman should bring her nursing baby to work with her. Ewww. Come on. This is 2010. Certainly we can all get over the fact that our breasts make milk. They are built to do so. This milk is the best thing ever created to grow little humans. Nothing... NOTHING... can replace it. Artificial milk has a place in those rare times when breastmilk is not available, but the truth is that human babies should be fed human milk. Not soy milk. Not cow milk. HUMAN MILK.

I have often chuckled at the phrase I've seen on countless shirts on Cafepress: I make milk. What's your superpower?

It's true. This is a miraculous substance. I have nurtured eight children with this liquid abundance. They have grown healthy and strong. They are rarely ill. They have lots of energy. All of them old enough to get tall are taller than I am. Breastmilk really does a baby good, to paraphrase the old dairy council slogan.

So... what is your superpower? I make milk that grows healthy children. I make milk that nourishes them mentally, physically and emotionally. I am proud of this fact. I don't hide it.

Bah humbug on the politics. It should be enough that breastmilk nourishes the human race as it was designed to do.