It’s one of the last motherhood taboos — letting another woman breastfeed your baby. Zoe Arnold questions why we’d rather feed our kids animal’s milk than accept milk from mothers who have enough to share.
It’s an ancient practice known as wet nursing — a woman who breastfeeds another person’s baby.
It existed for millennia, and then vanished with the invention of the modern bottle and our preference to give our children animal’s milk over humans.
But now is it making a quiet comeback.
I’m a breastfeeding advocate, unashamedly so. Yet my first reaction was to crinkle up my nose and think “ugh”. But why? What is wrong about sharing breast milk if one baby really needs it, and another mother has too much?
I have had a few conversations with my mummy friends over the years, and most expressed discomfort with the idea, saying it didn’t feel right.
But why do we feel better about providing our babies with milk from a can of powder or a cow’s udder?
Modern advertising has a lot to answer for. The sexualisation of our breasts, which pop out at us from billboards and bus shelters, don’t really equate to the reality of nursing breasts that are over-sized, sore and leaky.
The advertising of infant formula sends a powerful message as well: this is easier, cleaner and less fussy than the natural alternative.
There’s the hygiene factor too: mothers are rightly concerned about the health of their babies. But is there anything dangerous about a baby taking milk from another mother?
In a word, yes, because bodily fluids can carry disease, but the risks are minimal and only exist if the mother providing the milk has an infection or illness. These risks are removed if the milk is taken from a milk bank rather than directly from another mother.
A breast milk bank is just that: a bank of milk provided by women who have too much milk, to give to babies who (for whatever reason) can’t get enough from their own mother.
There are a few publicly funded breast milk banks in Australia: in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and one community-based service in Northern NSW.
All provide screened and pasteurised milk specifically to premature babies, with evidence showing babies born pre-term respond better to human milk than formula.
Milk banks provide a pretty special service: just visit their websites to see how grateful the mothers of tiny; premmie babies are to receive these life-saving donations.
But why doesn’t a similar service exist to share milk for mothers of full-term babies who want to breastfeed, but can’t?
Instead those seeking breast milk turn to the internet, using forums like Human Milk 4 Human Babies and Eats on Feets to source breast milk from women willing to donate.
I love this idea, but without proper hygiene practices in place, there is danger in this method. Wet nursing is an ancient practice, but our understanding of how illnesses spread tells us that checks and balances are essential in the modern world.
Breastfeeding is best for baby. Countless scientific, evidence-based studies show us that. This doesn’t mean formula is bad, but if there is another free, natural alternative, surely we should be pursuing it?
If we’re ok with feeding our kids pasteurised milk from a cow’s udder, we shouldn’t feel any less comfortable with milk taken from another mother.
