Ok - Breast is best - but have a read of this!!!

[Gwenick]

I've just had to read this article twice - coudln't quite believe what I was reading!!

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4187697.stm

There's no scientific evidence that it works, and I'm afraid until I read otherwise I'm inclined to think that this is just TOTALY wierd!!!

ewwww, a bit weird

very very very weird!!!!

This was in The Times last week.

I don't think I'd do this. And we don't know it works, but it's unlikely to do any harm.

Is it any weirder than, say, drinking the milk of other species? Why is cow milk ok and human milk not? At least the human milk was collected from people who chose to give it! And it's meant for people!

And no, I'm not vegan or even vegetarian. And yes, I eat dairy. Lots of it. I'm just saying.

very "little britain"!

I think it is a waste of good breastmilk.

Must admit, KathH, "bitty" sketch if the first thing that flashed into my mind!

Yuk!

I must admit I'd be very hacked off if I'd donated milk to that milk bank. It's supposed to be for prems fgs.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought, eewwww, bitty! when I heard about this.

You're right, the people who donate should know this is one potential use. And I'd think adults should come after premies, or even normal babies, in the queue for donated breastmilk.

Is it different from other milk - I'd say yes - have you ever tasted the stuff - while babies and toddlers may find it delightful tasting - I thought it tasted vile (and no I didn't 'drink' - it per se - but did 'taste' it ONCE).

this isn't a new theory, there is a painting, maybe in the national gallery, by Titian or someone like that, of an old man being suckled in order to give longevity

Bagsy not me

And in a very different and harrowing context, Rose of Sharon breastfeeds a starving man after her baby is stillborn at the end of The Grapes of Wrath. I saw our acting students do a searing stage adaptation of this novel the week after I returned from my first maternity leave. I was in floods (tear ducts and sodden breast pads...).

now that really has put me off my dinner

Tut Suzy it is a world classic of literature by a Nobel Prize winning novelist

Breastmilk is unpleasantly sweet to our tastebuds, but we're only used to cow's milk. I don't know what other species' milk tastes like - although DS has had buffalo, which at 8% fat went down quite well.

I don't see why this is gross, any of it. Why is it gross to do this with human milk, but not gross to do it with cow's milk? Would it be less gross if we homogenised it, pasteurised it, and delivered it in nice little glass bottles?

Here's a painting with a similar theme: here .

The father is being imprisoned and not fed - the daughter keeps him alive by visiting daily and breastfeeding him secretly. A jailor catches them, and sets the father free because of the daughter's devotion. It's an old Roman story.

PMSL at the picture caption - is it anti-ageing as well cos Mr Cohen doesn't look very old!

NQC - who said anything about it being gross - apart from me saying it tastes vile - I just it was wierd - and most people agreed!

As for 'non human milk' - well that's been drunk by humans since the Cavemen existed - Buffallo (sp), Cows, Goats etc etc etc (all 3 of which I've tasted and they all tasted better than the Breast milk LOL).

got told to put it on ds's warts once

I got told to put it in DS's eyes when he had 'sticky eye' as a baby - it worked........

Rubens unless I am much mistaken...

It is weird - but then someone who has terminal cancer may try all kinds of weird things and alternative therapies. Also, the power of the mind is an amazing thing - if this man believes it is helping him, maybe it really is. To the rest of us it seems as though he is grasping at straws but who says we wouldn't do the same in his situation?

Marina is right, it's Rubens.

You're right, Gwenick, nobody said gross, they said "weird", and "ewwww". Much of a muchness, I think. I agree that human milk tastes odd, but I don't think drinking it is any weirder than drinking any other species' milk ... less weird, really.

And as marthamoo says, well, who knows what one would do in that situation.

'wierd' because it's strange that someone would drink something that doesn't even have any scientific or 'proof' that it works. Also that an adult should be drinking it - even cave men didn't used to breastfeed past infanthood).

'ewwww' - because it tastes awful (unless you're a baby LOL

'gross' - I would inteprate as being totally disgusting and unthinkable.