To breast feed a friends baby if she was busy?

[narkymum]

just read a piece about it in closer. There is a programe about it on 9th sept c4 10pm.

[technics]

I wouldn't hesitate to feed a baby if the baby's mother gave consent.

I wouldn't mind another mum feeding my baby if necessary - wouldn't want to watch though although there would be no need for somebody else to feed my baby if I was there!

[sillybigsausage]

Hi Bubble! [waves]

[metbjb]

I used to think that that would be a really horrid idea, however my sister in law had problems producing milk & her baby was liturally starving just for the first few weeks after being born (wasn't coping with bottles either)- was breast feeding my daughter at the same time, and was suprised to find out how strong my urge was to just breast feed her starving baby,you could hear in his crys how hungry he was - I didn't do it. But it did make me realise how our natural instincts cut in to protect a baby - luckly he started taking bottles eventually but had it been longer it may have happend.

Apparently in some hospitals they use donated milk to use on babies in special care units.

[RuthChan]

I BF my friend's baby once.
It was really just to see if our babies would accept feeds from someone other than their mother.
My DD was already 8 months old and refused my friend's feed, but her DD was only 6 months and accepted mine with a very surprised look on her face.

I wouldn't have any problem feeding a friend's baby or accepting a friend's feed for my own DC if necessary due to illness etc.

[Booboobedoo]

Only read half the thread, but am inserting some factoids for your edification.

Factoid one: rich women had wet nurses because their husbands wanted them to conceive again as soon as possible. That's one of the reasons BFing was seen as 'common', but in fact it's because these women were treated as brood mares.

Factoid 2: Anne Boleyn wanted to breastfeed Elizabeth I, and was ridiculed and villified for it.

[tallulah]

I breastfed my friend's DD once and she breastfed mine once. They were a similar age and I looked after her DD while she went to a sewing class and she looked after mine while I went to a maths class (all morning, not just an hour). We had discussed it in advance.

It did seem a bit odd- each baby has a different suck so it didn't feel "normal" but apart from an initial look of surprise her DD had no hesitation in latching on (they'd have been about 5 months or so at this point) and was quite happy to feed from me. Certainly stopped her grizzling!

I don't think either of the babies suffered any ill effects! (This was 22 years ago btw)

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[sillybigsausage]

Dilemna - I expect they felt very grateful that women like you are kind enough and selfless enough to donate BM for teeny babies who need it

[threestars]

When I was BFing DS1, I had SO much breastmilk. I would have donated to a milk-bank but I was advised there wasn't such a thing in my area. A friend, on the other hand, had problems doing it and then her illness required her to take strong steroids and she was advised to stop BFing.

I really wanted to offer to give her child my milk, but didn't want her to feel like I was interfering as it was a very emotional time for her.

Likewise, at the time of my SB, I would have gladly donated to a milk bank, which would have eased the physical pain and helped me to know I was helping someone else.

I guess the only issue would be the age of the baby, no? As breastmilk changes according to the needs of the growing child.

[negril]

i remember watching a program about a teenage girl getting hiv guess where through the breast milk, how can you say its alright to bf anouther womans baby thats disgusting its bad enough some women bf there children till there 7 years or even older thinking it does them the world of good. just do wats right dont be nasty the body hasnt yet read the book alright love.

[TinkerBellesMum]

negril BM can help protect the baby from HIV as long as the baby isn't given even one drop of formula or started on solids. And the rest of your post is prejudiced and offensive.

[TinkerBellesMum]

threestars unless your friend was given the steroids by a consultant, I think her GP was trying to cover himself which is quite common with GP's. Very little that a GP can prescribe is passed through to the baby.

As for milk banks, they do cover the whole country. I'm not sure how it works as there is one near me so I trained to tell women that there is a local one and how to get in touch with them.

[negril]

alright tinkerbelle prove it

[negril]

i bet u milk banks check the milk

[TinkerBellesMum]

Which bit that BM can help prevent HIV or that your post is biggoted? Can you prove I'm wrong? I was answering you not the other way around. Back your own statement up.

[TinkerBellesMum]

Yes they do but that is because
a they need to protect sick babies who were never exposed to the virus in the first place, babies of HIV + mothers are born with the HIV virus in their system and BM helps prevent the virus taking hold;
b it's illegal to breastfeed with HIV in this country anyway;
c hospitals mix feed.

You're training in all things breastfeeding is what?

[WriggleJiggle]

I have bf a friend's baby, several times. The mother had to be away from her child for a prolonged period, the child refused bottles, so I tandem fed mine and hers. The baby accepted my milk without any hesitation at all. Whilst away from her baby the mother expressed to keep up her supply.

The only weird thing (imo) was that I had expected to feel some attachment or extra warmth towards the baby whilst he was feeding. I didn't, it just felt blank. On the other hand, the baby was really soothed and comforted by it.

It saved a huge amount of upset. I would have no hesitation in doing it again.

[Jackstini]

Would have no problem bfing another baby as long as the mother ok'd it.
In an emergency if a dc needed feeding and I wasn't there, I would much prefer someone to bf them than give them formula. Not like I'd be there to see it anyway!
Article makes a good point - technically it is stranger to give milk from another species than just another woman. We have just got so used to seeing lots of formula and not much wet nursing over the last century - for the odd 200,000 years before then this would never have been an issue!

[negril]

the mother did not know she was hiv+ when she was breast feeding her daughter i should have made that clear. all that im saying is dont take this conversation lightly because everything we do affects our children. i breastfed my children but now you want to take it there and breast feed other peoples children come on.

[TinkerBellesMum]

OK, let me clarify:

Can you say that the child didn't get it during pregnancy?
Can you say that she wasn't mixed fed?
Can you say that she wasn't breastfed after she started solids?

I'm not asking you to do anything, I wouldn't get into that conversation with someone with the prejudices you've displayed already.

[threestars]

Hi Tinkerbelle,
Yes, my friend was given steroids by her consultant - she has MS and relapsed after the birth of her baby.

My midwives didn't know about a milk bank. Should they have known?
You know, it wouldn't take too much to put details of a milk bank in a post-natal pack, would it? I'm sure it would boost donations...

[TinkerBellesMum]

Consultants tend to know much better than GP's what's ok for breastfeeding babies. Someone should tell them not to even think about it because only the big boys prescribe the drugs that need to be worried about.

I was given a leaflet about the milk bank, but then my daughter was born at a milk bank! I don't know how much knowledge you'd expect them to have, but it sounds like a cop out to me for not looking it up.

[thumbwitch]

threestars - this is the appropriate website for milk banking - if you would like to raise awareness, maybe there is a way to help them?

[beforesunrise]

my dad was fed by a wetnurse, my grandma couldn't (she had typhoid) or wouldnt (she was quite well off),i am not sure, bf him. postwar italy, definitely too far from boots! thank god for wetnurses in his case...

if asked, or if in extreme circumstances, i would nurse someone else's baby. even a perfect stranger's, it's still a baby right? i would feel a bit weirder about someone else feeling my baby, but again, in extreme circumstances (eg accident, away from all substitutes etc) i can see that i would be grateful to someone else for doing it.

has anyone seen the constant gardener? there is a beautiful scene where Rachel Weisz (rich diplomat's wife) who has just lost her baby nurses the baby of a poor kenyan woman who died in childbirth. beautiful beautiful beautiful

[sammysam]

If the mother was happy for me to then i would-but I think it would have to be a young baby-under 8months or so. I would have been/would be very happy for someone to have fed my dd if for example i'd been in an accident or something or for someone else to gradually wean my dd if god forbid i died-so that there wasn't a sudden stop.
I'm still feeding dd (25months) and she shows no sign of stopping-It is very important to her-if i suddenly wasn't there someone feeding her would make it so much easier for her.
If no party has a problem with it who elses business is it?