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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Other People's Breast Milk

53 replies

RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:09

Fascinating programme on 'unusual' (for our time / culture) feeding habits. Would you feed another woman's child? Would you allow your own child to be fed / comforted by another woman?

And anything else the programme brings up...

here

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 04/03/2010 20:12

yes and yes

rubyslippers · 04/03/2010 20:12

i watched this - was on quite a while ago

i can't remember thinking it was outrageous

would i feed someone else's child? probably - with their permission

would i let someone else breastfeed my child - erm, not sure TBH and it isn't because i think it is weird rather i can't imagine a scenario where this would happen

thisisyesterday · 04/03/2010 20:17

ruby, i think if i was ill (in hospital) or had to take medication that was incompatible with BF I would be over the moon if someone could feed ds3 for me

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 04/03/2010 20:23

Yes and yes.

For me it would be a totally natural thing to happen, and before DS was old enough to drink cows milk I would certainly have been happier with him having breast milk from someone else rather than formula.

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:27

cool me too i reckon.

OP posts:
rubyslippers · 04/03/2010 20:29

yes actually - a hospital admission would swing it for me

do you think a baby would latch on though if you weren't their mum?!

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:29

and imagine if there was some kind of disaster like an earthquake or something. wouldn't it be amazing if the surviving bfing mothers bfed any little orphans!

OP posts:
Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:29

in the programme, there are babies latching on all over the place! they seem to love it!

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 04/03/2010 20:31

not sure, i have heard stories online of babies who happily have fed from other women, but also an online friend of mine once attempted to feed her friend's little boy and he turned his nose up at it!

still, i suppose they would eventually, just like they would if it were a bottle and they normally refused them? i dunno.

mii · 04/03/2010 20:32

i had the misfortune on attenging a wedding the day after this was on

i got seated with on a table of happy clappy religion by stealth christians who spent the whole time taking the piss and saying how disgusting it was

I was this close to saying 'jesus was breastfed you know' before DH dragged me away

mii · 04/03/2010 20:34

don't know what happened with post there, sorry!

yes, I would be happy if for some reason I couldn't bf for a while feeding the DC with expressed bm from another woman

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:36

omg there is a bloke who's cancer has gone from drinking it! stands to reason i guess - it is human milk after all...

OP posts:
rubyslippers · 04/03/2010 20:36

wouldn't the milk taste different?

Mii - i can't understand the whole BF is disgusting - the loathing people assign to it is boggling ...

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:37

whose

OP posts:
ImSoNotTelling · 04/03/2010 20:37

Yes and yes here too.

I had also heard that babies will only feed from their own mother / or the person who feeds them from the start.

But this is clearly cobblers as both my DDs have tried to latch onto DH.

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:37

rubyslippers - re: taste - i don't know??

OP posts:
Lulumaam · 04/03/2010 20:39

i didn't breastfeed., wish i had, when i was with rubyslippers (my twin sister!) and her baby who was 2 days okd, i was overwhelemd with the urge to put Babyruby to the breast, and could feel a tingling in my breasts, like a let down. i think it is a very primal and essnetially natural thing

still about not bf my two, but i didnt know then wha ti know now

so for me, yes and yes is the answer

rubyslippers · 04/03/2010 20:42

aw Lulu ...

FlyingDuchess · 04/03/2010 20:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

TheBreastmilksOnMe · 04/03/2010 20:46

I definately would and I have discussed it with my best friend when our babies were small. I said if I was ever in hospital and wasn't able to feed then I would want her to BF my DS rather than anyone give him formula.

It isn't weird or disgusting, it's perfectly natural and like Lulumaam said, I've often felt an almost instinctive urge to put a crying baby to my breast if they cry when I am holding them. When I am caring for an 8 mth old baby and I give him his bottle of formula, a part of me is thinking- I've got far superior milk here ready and waiting, he would be much better off having a drink from me than this bottle of formula. It's a strange feeling!

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 04/03/2010 20:49

"I definately would and I have discussed it with my best friend when our babies were small. I said if I was ever in hospital and wasn't able to feed then I would want her to BF my DS rather than anyone give him formula."

Omg what a great idea - must do that!

OP posts:
awaywiththehairies · 04/03/2010 20:49

there was this story last year with Selma Hayek feeding a hungry baby in Africa when the mother had no milk left (forgive DM link)

here

it made me quite emotional at the time. There was an argument whether it was a publicity stunt but my reaction has always been, even if it was, what a great message for a sleb to send out.

yes and yes from me

rubyslippers · 04/03/2010 20:51

i had forgotten about the Salma Hayek story ...

MrsSawdust · 04/03/2010 20:56

Yes and yes from me too.

I was having lunch with a friend once and we both had our young toddlers with us. My dd had been drinking expressed milk from a cup (can't remember why) when my friend's little boy grabbed it and drank some. My friend was appalled, and muttered something about the effects of another woman's hormones. Daft, I thought. Wouldn't have bothered me at all.

I believe this is often practiced in disaster zones too.

YanknCock · 04/03/2010 21:02

Mii, I was just chatting with a mum/baby group friend a few days ago and she was saying someone at her church group was banging on about BF being gross, and she DID say 'you know Jesus was breastfed right?'

As to the original questions, had never thought about it, but instinctively yes and yes. The longer I breastfeed, the more 'pro' I am about it.

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