How would you feel about another woman nursing your baby?
It goes without saying that most moms will do whatever they can to give their baby the best start in life. Many agree that this often starts with breastfeeding. But what happens when pumping just doesn’t work out for you? Would you go to great lengths to ensure that your baby is consuming breast milk?
New mom Sarah Hastings was at her wit’s end when her six-month-old daughter was still nursing but she needed to go back to work and her daughter wouldn’t drink pumped milk from a bottle. One day she came into the room and saw her nanny nursing her baby. The nanny said the baby was crying and wouldn’t stop. Since she was already breastfeeding her own child, it just seemed like a natural thing to do.
Rather than being horrified, she was relieved and set up an arrangement that allowed her baby to receive breast milk and enabled her to go back to work. The nanny was more than happy to comply and Hastings’ mind was at ease.
Wet nursing is nothing new. Dating back to ancient times, it was an easier way for women to have several children. Between the 16th and 18 century, it was actually unfashionable to breastfeed your own baby. Well, things have certainly come full circle since then and now it seems strange for another mother to breastfeed a person’s child.
If I’m being totally honest, I gotta say I would not be alright with it. I’d probably feel the whole gamut of jealousy that might naturally occur in that situation. I realize the choice is not as easy for other mothers. I was lucky enough to be able to work from home when my kids were infants.
Still, I have no problem with anyone else choosing to do it. In fact, I say more power to them. Like I said, it’s nothing even remotely new and something women have been doing for hundreds of years. And just think of the irony of choosing a cow to supply your child’s milk over human breast milk.
I guess the question is one of personal growth, and I guess I’m not there yet because I still would not resort to another woman breastfeeding my baby.
Would you let another woman breast feed your baby if you couldn’t? Have you?
Image: Stockxchng
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