Other People's Breast Milk

[Julia]

I watched this program the other night on Ch4, Kate Garraway met a variety of individual in the UK and US including sisters who cross-feed their babies; women who are able to breast-feed even though they have never been pregnant; surrogate mothers who produce up to one pint of milk a day to donate to the local hospital for sick newborn babies.

Scientists from Oxford University recently found that premature babies who received only breast-milk are less likely to develop necrotising enterocolitis (a life-threatening bowel disorder) than babies fed formula milk. There are currently around 1,000 milk donors in the UK, serving 17 milk banks. Milk banks are funded by individual hospital trusts or charities.

To many this might seem weird, but it was a very thought provoking documentary to challenge us that it's actually much weirder to give our babies cow's milk than it is to drink milk from another woman.

Wet nursing has become something of a taboo subject, and yet prior to the introduction of formula milk in the early 1900s, it was commonplace and used routinely if the mother was absent or unwell. In the States, the practice of wet nursing is offered on a more formal basis. Last year a wet-nursing agency was established in Los Angeles – purportedly popular with Hollywood stars with breast implants who require lactating nannies.

So what are your thoughts on this controversial subject, personally I would not like the idea of another woman breastfeeding my children but don't think I'd have a problem feeding someone else's baby or donating milk to a mother who cannot breastfeed her own child.

The poll is private, nobody knows who voted which way and you may choose more than one answer

[justine]

YEUK. is about the best said about this.:~(:eek:

[balto]

there is noway in this world i would consider either breastfeeding someone elses baby, or llow someone to feed mine, this is an important bonding time for mother and baby. i have always feed all my kids myself and will do again when my baby is born in december, sorry but to be honest i think this is perverted.

[teenybash]

I watched the programme and when it came to older children latching on and adults tasting.................definately not and found that quite revolting and somehow abnormal.
Wet nursing I think is acceptable and I have an aunt who was a wet nurse and would feed the babies of mothers who could not....for whatever reason and one of the reasons was poverty.....so there are a lot of adults today who would not be around if it hadn't been for her.

[YummyMummy]

I think this is NOT about the child's needs, but about the adult's.

[kriklah]

i wouldnt breast feed someones elses baby or let another woman breast feed mine, simply because this is a bonding thing and doesnt seem quite right, though ive no aversion to women who do. however i would feed donated milk to my baby, and even donate my own if i could as breast milk really is better for baby particutly in the early stages to develope antibodies etc.

ive breast fed all 5 of mine, though for shorter times for each successive one, 6 months for the first, but only a week for the last as he wouldnt stay on and was very unsettled, ( i just think he didnt like warm milk!! as he only drinks it at room temp now)

[brandy]

i couldnt breast feed either of mine as they were both to sick to suckle. sam was bottle fed breast milk for 3 weeks until my milk went. ben was on formula from day one as he had low calcium and they put him on a special formula. (he did get to feed for a few hours until they took him away to scbu and started him on the formula)
i wish i could have fed them both myself as i had enough milk to feed the country!
i would have been happy to express my milk and give it to little babies that needed it. for those tiny preemies that struggle to hold on to life, i would give anything to give them a better chance.
unless you have had to sit and watch your child struggle to live, then i personally dont think anyone has a right to say thats discusting.
there are so many reason why a woman can not breast feed or express.. sometimes milk just never comes, their is a medical reason or even the mother has not made it to see her tiny baby trying to survive.
do not condem what you know nothing about or what you have seen on some tv show.
all those weeks in SCBU if i thought that it would have helped and the drs or a parent came to me and said, would you be able to feed my baby to give them a better chance, then you better belive it.. i would say yes in a heart beat.
a child does not have to be of your body for you to bond with it, or to love it.

[mccaugm]

If a friend asked me to breast feed their baby then I think I would, if I was very close to my friend. If I could, I definitely would express to feed babies in need.
I think after the ages of two its not needed, so feeding after that is a bit odd but each to their own. I do remember hearing of a woman who fed her "babies" till they were about 8+ which is bordering on, well I wouldn't like to say.

[Alice in Blunderland]

I wouldnt have a problem with expressing milk and having it given to another baby. I dont know how I would feel if I actually had to feed the baby myself but expressing is fine for me. :D

[Tugmistress]

Well said Brandy.
My second was 10 weeks early and whisked away from me as soon as she was born. She was taken to a hospital in a different city, 8 miles from where i lived. At that time i had no transport, no driving licence and relied on public transport to get to see her and be with her, there were no facilities for me to stay there. She was there for 3 weeks before being transferred back to my home town where i made the 3 mile walk to hospital every day four times a day. It wasn't until she was back in my home town that the nurses gave me an option of expressing my milk and they would feed her it through her stomache tube. She had been on formula before that. It was a no brainer to me and they taught me how to express and they even delivered a machine to my home, in an instant i wish the first hospital had been able to give breast milk to my daughter, even if it wasn't mine. The home town hospital asked if they could use any of my spare milk for other premature babies and i agreed no problem. In my own humble opinion, breast is best to start life with.... even if not the natural mothers.

[rambo1978]

If a friend asked me to breast feed their baby then I think I would, if I was very close to my friend. If I could, I definitely would express to feed babies in need.
I think after the ages of two its not needed, so feeding after that is a bit odd but each to their own. I do remember hearing of a woman who fed her "babies" till they were about 8+ which is bordering on, well I wouldn't like to say.

Thank you Mccaugm, so sick of seeing completely negative thoughts about the subject, personally I wouldn't go completely overboard and 'freak out' over this programme, different living that's all, don't be too quick to judge, life is too short.

[Lolabelle]

I should have read Tugs and Brandy's posts before voting! I voted formula and that is really a silly hypothetic (is that a word?) answer as I can't have kids. But I must admit that the thought is a bit yucky to me. After reading through the thread and seeing the other side, I can understand where people would donate their milk and or take donated milk. I still don't know about feeding someone elses child or having someone feed mine?? Life or death is a totally different ball game in my eyes though! :confused

[2little2late]

I tried breastfeeding my children, but found I wasn't expressing any milk at all. I came to the conclusion it is because I am male. [lol]

[tootler]

But, hey, for those of you that didn't see the programme, the most amazing bit was an American guy with prostate cancer who's wife had read an obscure case of breast milk curing cancer & suggested it to him to try.

They managed to persuade his doctor to prescribe him 7oz breast milk a week from a local breastmilk bank and appears to have gone into a spontaneous remission with no further treatment necessary. He'd been booked in for surgery and has not needed to have it after all. No chemo, no radiotherapy - just two strawberry milkshakes a week!

If the cure for cancer is that simple, I'd certainly be first in the queue to relactate in order to donate my milk and save lives without all the trauma chemo can cause.:D

I wonder, does anyone know if Cancer Research UK has researched this?

(Or would all you "yeuchy" folk literally rather die than drink breastmilk?!:lol:)

[Thumper]

In theory I see nothing wrong with this idea,I would gladly donate my milk and let it be used to help other children.My mum did this years ago when my sister was born,she was premature and very underweight but Mum had oodles of milk so some was used for other babies that needed it.I do however understand the problems with older children nursing,but again thats just a personal thing isnt it?That said I wouldnt want a 5 year old jumping on my lap for a drink :eek: Babies would be a different matter and I would even consider feeding close family and friends children if both parties were happy with it x

[Tilter]

I was reading somewhere once that in some remote area (Philippines?), ladies with surplus milk supplies would take the family piglet and give it a suck . . . . . Honest, I'm not kidding. Also, a very ancient lady in the U.S.'s Deep South once told me many many years ago that as a child she'd had to provide for her baby brother and had fed him bitch's milk. He thrived apparently. I guess that would have been about 1900.

Not judging it, it's just interesting.

[emszxr]

after watching this and thinking about it for a few days.
i dont think i couuld let another woman breast feed my baby but would allow breast milk in a bottle to be given to my baby. its just the bonding thing. i loved being able to breast feed my kids.
i would happily donate to milk banks, is there any this far north or are they all in england.
and like the lady on the programme who went to sidan i think it was and she breastfed starving babies, i could quite easily do that.

[porshiepoo]

I couldn't watch it cos the whole thing made me shudder when I saw the ad for it. Nothing wrong with the whole concept I s'pose, just my own hang ups make me avoid such topics.
I once saw a documentary on when to stop breast feeding, eek! Some women were doing it for years and one particular woman had a 9 year old doing it - even asking for it. :eek:
Surely that's taking it a tad too far?

I personally bottle fed my girls but that was mainly due to the fact that they are twins and they had to be intubated for the first week or so, after which time I had gotten so used to trying to get them to take some formula in between intubations that I just found it easier. But I have to say that I probably would have looked for some other excuse to bottle feed anyway!

I think it's great that so many women choose to breast feed nowadays but I hate the way that those who bottle feed are made to feel as though they must somehow love their children less.
Mothering did not come naturally to me and breast feeding is something I just could not have even contemplated, so as far as giving some to other kids - yikes! No way!!

I guess my answer to the whole idea is, each to their own.

[ett23]

But, hey, for those of you that didn't see the programme, the most amazing bit was an American guy with prostate cancer who's wife had read an obscure case of breast milk curing cancer & suggested it to him to try.

They managed to persuade his doctor to prescribe him 7oz breast milk a week from a local breastmilk bank and appears to have gone into a spontaneous remission with no further treatment necessary. He'd been booked in for surgery and has not needed to have it after all. No chemo, no radiotherapy - just two strawberry milkshakes a week!

If the cure for cancer is that simple, I'd certainly be first in the queue to relactate in order to donate my milk and save lives without all the trauma chemo can cause.:D

I wonder, does anyone know if Cancer Research UK has researched this?

(Or would all you "yeuchy" folk literally rather die than drink breastmilk?!:lol:)

Yeah I was really impressed by that part of the programme - sounds amazing if it really is true. Surely we'd be better to drink breast milk than go through chemo/surgery to cure cancer?! I definitely think it should be looked into.........

[router]

next they will be selling it on e-bay.bid or buy it now :lol:

[balto]

had another rethink about this, and if it was needed i would express milk for use for a bby, if it was needed, but there is still noway i would feed another baby.

[2little2late]

next they will be selling it on e-bay.bid or buy it now :lol:

There's a niche here. Selling breast milk on eBaby
I think that's milking it a bit though. [lol] [lol]

[tootler]

Just had a quick google to find out if there's any evidence to back up the cancer treatment claims made on this bizarre programme - looks like there might be something in it!

Swedish research was originally by a Dr Svanborg, now ongoing and funded by the American Cancer Society. Cancer Research UK don't even mention it on their site - looks like we're behind the rest of the world... again!:roll:

Svanborg's found something in breastmilk they're calling "HAMLET" which seems to kill all sorts of cancer cells and they don't seem to be finding any side effects. Their research seems to have been going on for years and years. Looks good. Very hopeful indeed.

If I was facing chemo, I'd certainly be finding a friend who's still breastfeeding and asking them to express some for me.

Time to stop being squeamish about breastmilk, my friends - it might save us all yet!:lol: