Breastfeeding a stranger’s child

[grou]

I was recently told of a friend’s friend who under very specific circumstances was compelled to breastfeed a complete stranger’s baby. I find the concept quite disturbing. Think remote, small airport. One rug shop for duty free. But then again a starving baby is a starving baby.

As far as I am aware there were really no alternative options available.

A hungry baby's cry is one of the worst things to listen to, so absolutely if they're was no other choice i would feed the baby rather than listen to it cry.

The breast milk itself doesn't bother me, but I think I'd have found it strange to physically breastfeed a child who wasn't mine. I would absolutely have done it in a scenario where expressing wasn't an option though. A hungry baby is a hungry baby.

Exactly Wet nurses were quite common a few generations back.

Assuming the mum consented (or in an absolute emergency like natural disaster and baby is entirely alone after an earthquake) … I would have no issue with feeding someone else’s baby.

Throughout human history wet nurses have existed. More often than not associated with royalty or the aristocracy as men didn't like that it prevented pregnancy, and they didn't want their wives breastfeeding for that reason. Anne Boylen wanted to breastfeed Elizabeth, and wasn't allowed to.

I'd do it happily if the mother was happy with it. I think it should be more acceptable as I think breast milk is better than formula. I can imagine being a wet nurse in another era.

Rose of Sharon

Quite bizarre that as a society we are so very comfortable with extracting milk from multiple other species but so ill at ease with our own. Hungry babies need to be fed.

That's so interesting; do you mind telling us which culture that is?

I haven't breastfed anyone else's baby, but I would if it was necessary - even tho yes, I imagine it would feel a bit weird... but that wouldn't be a good enough reason not to do it IMO.

I'm fully in the camp for feeding the baby and don't find it ick. But it would have terrified me had such a situation ever arisen, I found bf painful and so hard, the thought of attempting this for another baby scares me! I'm too old now though for this to be anything but theoretical personally.

I remember seeing a lactating police officer in the US finding an abandoned crying newborn when out on a call with colleagues, and she did it.
I thought she was absolutely amazing and I found it very very moving.

I would swallow any feelings of discomfort to prevent my baby from going gungry. Yes its a very inimate act but i coulf not see any baby starving and in distress if i could help it

Yeah this is my opinion. I'd do it, but I can totally see that it would feel a bit odd. Same as if there was a situation where my child was the one who needed the milk and someone else breastfeeding him was the only option...would be grateful, but it would feel strange!! Intimate is the right word. I had a dream once that a friend looked after my DS during which she fed him and I felt betrayed by them both. Subconscious throws out some strange scenarios sometimes 😂

I also donated to the milk bank, but it felt more removed/less personal than the physical act of doing i directly.

I think it is perfectly natural in a situation of need, I would feed someone else's baby and let them feed mine if the baby needed it urgently. I think you're overthinking it.

Completely natural, and of course the baby should be fed! I saw a story about a newborn baby who was fed by a cop who had recently had her own baby, the baby was in distress, abandoned and hungry.
I thought it was one of the loveliest, most natural things I’d ever heard.

I wouldn’t have an issue giving breastmilk to another baby or mine receiving from another if everyone was free of any bugs that could be passed on.

I don’t think it’s weird, it’s just unusual nowadays. I’d have been happy to feed a friend’s baby if needed, and vice versa.

I think I’d have made an excellent wet nurse back in the day. Despite being modest of bust, I made more milk than I knew what to do with and could’ve fed a clutch of babies as well as my own.

Back in the 40s my granny had a neighbour who had twins and struggled to feed them both: granny had a really good supply. She used to just feed one of the neighbour's babies as needed. Not weird then, shouldn't be weird now.

The situation is right there in the OP? Having once spent 8 hours unexpectedly stranded airside in a tiny airport in Namibia I can see how it can quite easily have happened.

Maybe the parents of the baby in need didn't have enough formula for an unexpected diversion and/or delay. Maybe they did but it had been lost or left on a plane or spilled. Maybe there was nowhere to make it up in the tiny airport.

Interesting thread OP. I'm much more disturbed by the (thankfully few) respondents who would prefer to let a starving baby starve than feed them or have them fed, than I am by the idea of sharing breastmilk.

This thread, and the majority of people posting, makes me believe in humanity again, after the horrible news in the last 24 hours. To breastfeed someone's hungry baby is such a natural thing to do. I would absolutely do it.

For hundreds of years being a wet nurse was an absolute lifeline for many working class women and one of the very few ways they could earn a living.

Yes, breastfeeding can be intimate and fulfilling just as sex is sometimes but that's not the main purpose of it. The primary purpose is to keep little mammals alive.

YABU
the child was in a dangerous situation without food or hydrations as breast milk is both.
you do whatever is needed to help.

its just food. Yes it’s a bonding act normally and I wouldn’t love someone else to do it daily for my kid, but I’d be so grateful if I needed help. And if it came to it and someone needed my help, I would. We should look after each other if we can.

I was about to mention this!

I had a hard time with breastfeeding, but if circumstances required it I wouldn't hesitate to feed a hungry young baby if their Mum couldn't.

It used to be completely commonplace, now it’s not, perhaps since formula’s been on the scene. But it’s just nourishment. Nothing weird about it imo.

Why?