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Original poster

my friends ds was fed breastmilk at school !!!

345 replies

mummyof2bunnies · 04/06/2008 21:27

My friend came round today in a bit of a state, she was asking her ds7 what he had done at school today and he replied that so and so's mum came in to class today and was telling them all about her new baby and brought baby food for them to try, and that they got to try breastmilk on teaspoons and breastmilk mixed in baby food now i am no prude i breastfed both my dds but i would be horrified if my dd came home and told me this. Friend was completely horrified as well is going to speak to the head 2mrw the mum in Q was a former classroom assistant at the school b4 she had her baby and my friends ds said she was the only one in class and the teacher was not there when they where trying the foods . I am sure this has to be wrong on so many levels i'm trying to look at it from another point of view but all i feel is anger that she did this can anyone else share their feelings on this....

OP posts:
Original poster
mummyof2bunnies · 04/06/2008 22:15

Her problem is she did not want her child to be breastfed by anyone including herself. I dont honestly believe if any person on this threads child came home and said a stranger fed them their breastmilk today would be ok...and you can be fine with breastfeeding etc but your child and strangers body fluid thats what i think it boils down to.

OP posts:
moopdaloop · 04/06/2008 22:16

HIV can be passed through breastmilk - I am not saying this woman is HIV+ but it is inappropriate to feed any bodily fluids without prior approval

wrong, wrong, wrong

hunkermunker · 04/06/2008 22:17

He wasn't breastfed. He had a drop of possible breastmilk off a spoon (at this stage we don't even know it was breastmilk).

Piffle · 04/06/2008 22:17

let's discuss pus in cows milk shall we...

Original poster
mummyof2bunnies · 04/06/2008 22:18

morocco yes i can believe my 7yr old she holds very good conversation with me.

OP posts:
theAfkaUrbanDryad · 04/06/2008 22:18

coming late to the thread but...

from a communicable disease POV i wouldn't be happy.

from the POV of ds drinking someone else's bm...

meh

fine.

wheresthehamster · 04/06/2008 22:18

I hope they all had individual sterilised spoons as well

theAfkaUrbanDryad · 04/06/2008 22:20

Also - i don't know for sure but even if the mother was HIV+, could HIV be passed on by a tiny drop of breastmilk?

Original poster
mummyof2bunnies · 04/06/2008 22:20

hunker it not about the breast its about the milk fluid i would rather my child had a shot at latching onto a breast than actually recieve another womans breast milk.

OP posts:
Memoo · 04/06/2008 22:20

I'm a teaching assistant in a primary school and i can tell you that if that had happened in our school there would be uproar.

Firstly, you can't just go and give kids anything you like without parental permission and secondly, it came form another womans body, whether they had it from a cup or spoon its just very wrong on every level. if it was my child I would go mental!!

Blandmum · 04/06/2008 22:21

It isn't pus in cows milk, it is while blood cells. Which you will also find in any fish or meat item that you eat. and all living things are made up of cells. I don't see that as an issue. and you will get the same type of cells in breat milk

I wouldn't drink unpasturised cow's milk because of the TB risk. I wouldn't allow my kids to drink unpasturiesed BM because of the risk of other communicable diseases

WonderingWhy · 04/06/2008 22:21

Ok Oliveoil

Oliveoil · 04/06/2008 22:22

lol

oh don't mention pus in milk please, I get images and am about to retire to bed

edam · 04/06/2008 22:22

Could easily be a misunderstanding. I'd check what actually happened before making a fuss.

The potential for communicable diseases would worry me, but apart from that I wouldn't be bothered. She didn't actually breastfeed them!

WonderingWhy · 04/06/2008 22:25

I just meant I wouldn't want my child to be given someone else's milk because of the emotional element of breast milk/feeding.

That is precisely why it is better if it comes from a cow. I am not concerned that the cow is giving something emotionally charged to my child, because it is a cow and feeds purely (I assume?) from an instinct - it doesn't indicate the cow has intimate feelings toward the object of its nourishing

Whereas another human giving my child their milk feels like an intrusion into a private relationship. In as much as I would not want some stranger to stroke my child's hair or hug them without asking me first (if at all!)

tortoiseSHELL · 04/06/2008 22:25

I would be worried not from an offended point of view, but from a safety point of view. I would be much less worried about them trying breast milk from a milk bank, as that is safe.

And however unlikely the event that something could be passed on, you just don't know (and the lady may well not know). I definitely wouldn't have given consent if asked, and therefore I think the parents should have been asked for consent.

Bear in mind, that what the teacher basically did was to put something unlicensed and unregulated into the children. That sounds hysterical, but it isn't at all. Supposing she had drunk a lot of alcohol or taken a drug that could pass into the b/milk? I'm assuming she is sensible and hadn't, but you've got no guarantees. Whereas a bottle of cows milk, you know what's in it!

I'm a, if not militant, then enthusiastic supporter or breastfeeding - bfed all 3 of mine, dd and ds2 exclusively to 6 months. But I wouldn't have DREAMT of giving MY breast milk to another child. In the same way I wouldn't have asked them to taste my blood!!!

Original poster
mummyof2bunnies · 04/06/2008 22:25

well i am off to bed but i will post what happens and if it really was bm 2mrw.. i dont know if my friend is going to the school or the mother first but we will soon see.

OP posts:
Thomcat · 04/06/2008 22:26

Not getting into the formula V breastmilk thing but I'd be massively pissed off if my DC were given someone elses breastmilk. Why the hell is that seen as ok, by the mum and the teachers? Show the class you feeding your own baby, talk about it, allow them to get close and ask questions but how dare anyone give my child milk from their breast on a teaspoon? What is the point of that? I breastfed my children, and I don't want anyone elses breastmilk being given to them. Sorry repeating myself, just massivley feel that it's wrong.

What's next, smoking is wrong children, here try a fag, see for yourself how horrid it is!

hunkermunker · 04/06/2008 22:26

I think not wanting a stranger to stroke your child's hair is verging on lunacy, tbh [with respect]

oxocube · 04/06/2008 22:27

I wouldn't be that bothered to be honest. Why is it so shocking? Weird, yes, but shocking, immoral, 'bad'? To me, no

tortoiseSHELL · 04/06/2008 22:27

I would be utterly pissed off if my kids were given formula to taste as well - dd never had any, ds2 only had a tiny bit, and I worked REALLY hard to achieve that!

theAfkaUrbanDryad · 04/06/2008 22:27

Wondering - would you really not let another person (someone you knew, and who had been helping to take care of your child previously) hug or stroke your child's hair? Really??

That's a bit mad, isn't it?

theAfkaUrbanDryad · 04/06/2008 22:27

Wondering - would you really not let another person (someone you knew, and who had been helping to take care of your child previously) hug or stroke your child's hair? Really??

That's a bit mad, isn't it?

theAfkaUrbanDryad · 04/06/2008 22:28

oops - sorry!

Oliveoil · 04/06/2008 22:28

your hand would stick to dd2's hair...

off to bed now, hopefully your friend's son got it all wrong and it will all be clear in the morning