Hiring a wet nurse

[Connonym]

Came across a magazine article today about breast feeding other people's babies (family or friends), milk banking and also the recent resurgence of hiring a wet nurse. It seems sort of taboo in a way but it also seems like it could be a really healthy thing for a baby. But then there's sort of the whole idea of poor women selling themselves to rich women. Is it empowering or degrading? I'm curious, what do you think about it?

[NMDemDist2]

1. ok that is just bizarre

some people just have too much freaking money :banghead:

[2008]

24. this used to be a fairly common practice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_nurse

Wet nursing was reported in France by Louis XIV in early 17th century. In the past, members of higher classes would have their children wet-nursed. This is an outgrowth of an old tradition - noblewomen would not breast-feed, and could become pregnant again sooner, to ensure an heir, if they were not nursing their infants.

-snip-

Wet nurses were common for children of all social ranks in the southern United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

[hfojvt]

2. I wonder what is wrong

with the rich woman's boobs. Too much silicon? :hide:

[Connonym]

3. actually

"breast surgery" was listed in the article as a reason for the need for a wet nurse

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. I'd wonder about bonding

Might not an infant be likely to bond more with the woman who feeds him/her? :shrug:

I dunno. This would require review on an individual basis, but at face value it's got a few holes in it.

[hfojvt]

5. rich people might consider that another advantage

in the literature/TV they are stereotypically aloof. Plus the WN later becomes the beloved nanny.

[Connonym]

6. Here's a link to the article

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1612710,00.html

[JVS]

7. Didn't Rockefeller hire a wetnurse for himself in old age because...

he was having trouble digesting solid food. What a class act!

[chemenger]

8. EEEEWWWWWHHHHH!!!!!

That's an image that's just indelibly burned itself into my brain.

pardon me while I :puke:

[JVS]

9. I'm surprised that the Simpsons haven't put that story into the Mr. Burns character somehow

[Sequoia]

17. Don't read the last chapter of "The Grapes of Wrath" then.

[Connonym]

18. yeah, I was thinking the same thing

[Sequoia]

19. Great minds......!!!

[many a good man]

33. Rockefeller sure did -- according to my Grandma

She's 101 and grew up in the poor immigrant community on the east side of Cleveland not too far from Rockefeller's mansion. She told me how it was common knowledge that Rockefeller's people would pay cash for mother's milk. It was an easy way to get money in those hard times to put food on the table even though all were too ashamed to admit to it.

[guitar man]

10. cool

where can I hire one?? :shrug:












not for the baby, for me :evilgrin:

[LeftyMom]

11. I would have sold or donated milk if I could. I had WAAAAAAAAY too much.

I met an older woman on the bus once who at one point when her children were young was nursing her own child and expressing enough milk for a cousin's baby and her neighbor's twins. I wasn't quite at that point, but my breasts never clued in on the supply and demand thing and consistently made more than even my enormous and very hungry kid had use for.

I looked into a milk bank, but the nearest dropoff point was an hour south of town and at the time I didn't have a car.

[petronius]

12. Am I the only one who thought this thread was about naughty role-playing?

:shrug:

[Connonym]

13. ...

:spank:

[JVS]

22. There is nothing naughty about consenting adults feeding each other

[Forkboy]

23. Nope

Mmmmmmmmmmm....nurses. :)

[PVnRT]

14. ...and now we're outsourcing motherhood

At least some Americans get some jobs out of the deal...of course, knowing the rich, they'll probably just hire illegal immigrants.

[dropkickpa]

15. Very very old thing

I can see several reasons for doing it (I didn't have to, I was about to open up Dropkick Dairy Farm). A good friend was unable to breastfeed because she had had a breast reduction done many years previously, though she did try, but all the ducts and stuff had been severed/shifted/kinked enough that only a drop or two would come out. Or perhaps a woman is on a medication that is not good for da baby (I have a couple friends who didn't breastfeed because they needed to start taking their psych meds ASAP).

I can't say I object too much to the idea in any circumstance, as breastmilk is best for babies.

Keep in mind, the poor have been selling themselves to the rich in one form or another since money/wealth/standing entered human society. It's all in what we are willing to sell. If the woman is willing and able and her own child/health doesn't suffer for it, why not?

[Sequoia]

16. Being going on for centuries.

If the mother has no milk a wet-nurse makes sense. Do you think the princess who raised Moses knew his wet nurse was actually his mother but pretended not to? I do.

[undeterred]

20. Its healthier for the baby

and lets face it, if mom has to go back to work, pumping is damned inconvenient. I don't think we have to start assigning all kinds of economic roles to it. If women can help each other out, like they've been doing for centuries, I say go for it. Its not like they're swapping wives for gods sake.

[plcdude]

21. I wonder what the

interviews would be like?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. In the old days, it worked like this:

A woman who got pregnant out of wedlock would put her own baby into an orphanage (where it would probably die of neglect and/or malnutrition) and nurse some rich person's child.

[NNadir]

31. My stepmother's aunts all were wet nurses.

My step-mother was thus able to give my wife great comfort in her initial difficulties (and insecurities) with nursing.

Your description is purely absurd. Like any human activity, abuses occurred, but they were the exception and not the rule.

It was an ancient practice which often served to build communities and relationships.

Mothers can and so produce more milk they they need.

Both of my boys breastfed enthusiastically and for an extended period. My wife could have easily fed another child.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. I'm talking about Victorian times and earlier

It was a common "career" for servant girls who had gotten pregnant outside of marriage.

[Nikia]

26. When I was younger, a woman in our neighborhood wet nursed

Her husband had a median income job, but it made it easier economically for her to stay home with her own baby-toddler.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

27. If I'm not mistaken, and if I am, please correct me..

But didn't the women in the south during slavery have their slaves "wet nurse" their babies? I mean, they weren't good enough for you to have dinner with or socialize with, but they were good enough to feed your babies? And in the south, a lot of wet nurses were nannies who were black women who worked for white women. I never understood that. :shrug:
Duckie

[Connonym]

30. yes this is true

which I think sort of feeds into the class issues that's part of what makes me feel mixed emotions on the concept of doing it for pay. I hesitate to bring up the comparison with prostitution because breast feeding is not sexual but it evokes a similar conflict in me -- is a woman empowered by selling her body or is she being used?

[SarahB]

28. I'm extremely pro-breastfeeding, but wouldn't want anyone else to nurse my child.

You can transmit HIV via breastmilk and I really think I'd be an ass having to harp on another grown woman's sex life (and possibly that of her partner) because I don't want to nurse myself. (Breastfeeding was such a nice experience for me that I can't imagine not making that choice myself.)
You can damn well bet the first time a baby gets HIV this way, it'll end.

[oustemnow]

29. Where can I hire one of these wet nurses?

Oh, y'all are talking about lactating women.

Well...that could work too.

Giggity, giggity!