14 July 2007

Wet-nursing: is your own breast best?

Apparently wet-nursing, the age old practice of paying women to feed other women's babies, is back and Americans have been talking about it (alot). News obviously doesn't travel as fast this far down under so this is the first I've heard of this borrowed boob revival. Not only are everyday mothers sharing their milk (known as cross-nursing) but celebrities are also hiring wet nurses from a few agencies who make their profit in the 'outsourcing' of milk, a side effect of stars being too rich, too busy and having one too many breast augmentations.
See http://www.certifiedhouseholdstaffing.com/

So what is the problem? If a mother is unable to feed her child, is it wrong to have a friend feed the baby for her? Some sociologists suggest that the reason people are so weirded out by sharing around breasts is the idea that breasts are culturally erotic and somehow feeding someone else's child is tantamount to paedophilia or even child abuse. Some critics argue that breastfeeding is solely the responsibility of the birth mother and if she can't feed she is missing that essential bonding time with her baby.

I do have a problem with the fact that the Australian Marie Claire article (link below) suggests that a wet nurse is the latest celebrity 'accessory' on par with elective caesars, drivers or dog walkers. Sure celebrities have alot of people that are paid to run their lives but I think the suggestion that the modern day wet nurse is as frivolous as a dog walker is irresponsible. I think there are plenty of women in the world who are unable to feed and have finally found a plausible solution to avoid formula. There are also plenty of women who want to go back to work and probably can't be bothered to feed for very long (and I'm not here to pass judgment). On a totally different level, wet nursing carries alot of historical weight particularly in America during slavery when black women were co-opted into feeding white women's babies pretty much by force or out of necessity. As slaves, black women had to abandon their own children to feed white babies. Really, when it comes down to it, wet nursing isn't 'new' at all and in fact, women have been engaged in the practice of feeding other women's babies for hundreds of years. Why should we stop now?

Further reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,1983360,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1612710,00.html
http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/marie-claire/1839/wet-nurses-the-latest-a-list-accessory/

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