Another mom’s milk

Breastfeeding has been the preferred feeding for infants and toddlers since the dawn of mankind. The WHO stresses that each and every child should be exclusively breastfed during his first six months of life and continue to breastfeed complemented with suitable other foods till or passed his second birthday. Many people find this a hard to follow advice, because what if a mother can’t or isn’t allowed to breastfeed? The answer is simple: another mom’s milk is defined as exclusive breastfeeding as well. Throughout human history women fed ach others’ children for convenience and emergencies. In many cultures and times this even was a profession: women hired themselves, or rather their breasts, out to nurse other women’s’ children as a wet-nurse. Another woman’s milk always is better suited for a child than any animal milk be it processed or not, even if the wet-nurse’s child is of a different age than it’s milk-sibling. Breastmilk that is saf for a mom’s own child will be safe for another child as well. Mothers who cross-nurse (breastfeed each othr’s children) will additionally provide for tailor-made antibodies for both nurslings.

Thorley V. Sharing breastmilk: wet nursing, cross feeding, and milk donations. Breastfeed Rev. 2008 Mar;16(1):25-9.

Binns CW, Fraser ML, Lee AH, Scott J: Defining exclusive breastfeeding in Australia. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2009, 45(4):174-180

Thorley V: Breasts for hire and shared breastfeeding: wet nursing and cross feeding in Australia, 1900-2000. Health History. 2008;10(1):88-109.

Thorley V: Mothers' experiences of sharig breastfeeding or breastmilk co-feeding in Australia 1978-2008. Breastfeed Rev. 2009 Mar;17(1):9-18.