Wanted: Wet Nurses.

[spidermama]

Wouldn't it be great if you could look up a wet nurse in the Yellow Pages then go for a night out even when BF? They had wet nurses (women who'd BF your baby for you) in days of yore.
My mw told me if a woman has lactated she can do so again, even ten years down the line, just as long as a baby sucks for long enough. Has anyone heard of this?

Has anyone else heard that men can do it too? I know it sounds insane.

gosh this is a lively thread..not seen one move so rapidly!!!!

Cant imagine a man doing it. they certainly wouldnt be able to do it on the move or whilst on the phone etc!!! one job at a time!!!!

spoke too soon...looks like I killed this thread too....sorry!!!!

Read a book about Laura Shanklin who says her hubby got milk going just to prove a point but was reported to Social Services!

why was he reported..was it deemed pervy for a man to feed?

Yes, I accidentally found a website for lactating dads!

My fil law had a wet nurse. I couldnt do it or wouldnt want anyone else to do it for my child but im not against it if thats what you choose to do. I read an article the other day about a woman who couldnt have kids and had a surrogate, she took something, (i cant remember at the mo ) and she produced her own milk without ever having been pregnant.

Wasn't the guy on ER breastfeeding (yes, I know ER isn't real, but normally based on facts of some sort)?

for anyone who's looking for a wet-nurse!

"First, Concerning her Lignage, she must come of a good stocke, or kinred: there being none of her race, whether it be grandfather, or grandmother, nay, not so much as one of her great grandfathers, or ancient progenitors, that hath ever been stayned, or spotted, either in bodie or mind: For, oftentimes we see, though the Parents be healthfull, and sound, yet their children be sometimes either sickly, or fooles, or else viciously given"

I was expecting the link to be the bat to start with...

i think i would have done it if i had to for a very young baby.
my sis looked up some info, and even if she adopts a baby, she can breastfeed. hormones, coupled with suckling should do it.
in days of yore, as some one said, grandmothers would often find themselves lactating in response to the cry of a grandchild.
i dont know about other faiths, but in Islam, children who breastfeed from the same woman are classified as siblings, so cant gte married when older! something to think about before suckling other babies!

Can't remember Mandy. I think so. I think there were other reasons for the authorities to think they ought to watch this particular couple. I got the name wrong. The book is called Unassisted Birth by Laura Kaplan-Shanley. She's a radical woman alright.

Wow Chipmonkey, that's great. Well done.

Didn't one of her babies die following an uasisted birth? That may be why they were watching them closely.

Not for me or mine I don't think, but I do know that lactation is possible without ever having been pregnant. It is a side effect of certain drugs for example.

Yes I think it did Soupdragon. She sort of glosses over this in the book. But obviously it's a very important piece of information given her subject matter which is unassisted birth. She says it would've died anyway in hosp or at home but it's alarming isn't it. Surprised anyone else has heard of this book.

Flamesparrow - the guy on ER was only 'breastfeeding' thanks to some complicated contraption with an outlet at nipple height.

Aren't some diseases able to be transmitted through breast milk? What about HIV?

Ah yes, that was it!!

Glad to see I'm not the only one watching ER though

I read it on her website (personally I thought she was barking mad but that's just my opinion ). I think the child had a heart condition.

I'm not sure that there is strong evidence about the HIV...

I think I'd be ok with someone I knew well bfing my baby. (My sister, or a good friend.) And I'd bf someone else's baby if they were ok with it, why not?

That being said, someone I know was telling me, the other day, that two bf mums they knew had swapped (larger) babies for a feed, to see if their babies would switch. One would feed off another woman, the other wouldn't. They weren't starving, though.

Not sure Goosey but a friend of a friend of mine was ordered by social services not to BF her baby because she was HIV positive. She ended up leaving the country with her baby because she didn't believe the decision to be right. Terribly sad tale. The mum died a few years ago and I think the daughter's ok.

Yes, goosey, I think HIV can be transmitted through breastmilk but the chances are fairly slim.