Last night I was watching Bravo's Pregnant in Heels. In case you haven't seen it, it's all about how pregnancy concierge Rosie Pope caters to the ridiculous demands of super rich, expecting women in New York City.
Well, her latest client had a request that even surprised Rosie. This woman wanted a wet nurse. At first I thought I had heard wrong. She wanted Rosie to find some stranger to nurse her soon-to-be-born child. What century is this? All I could think was, "Yuck." Then I wondered how many people in this day and age actually seek out wet nurses and the answer shocked me.
Just to be clear, I am not talking about organized milk sharing programs. That is a great option for women who can't produce enough milk on their own. That milk goes in a bottle. This is completely different. The thought of letting your child suck on a random woman’s boobs was just too weird for me, but lots of women do it.
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The job is actually making a comeback. L.A. based agency Certified Household Staffing provides a wet nurse registry filled with over 1,000 women who breastfeed professionally. Most of these women will spend a year or more with a family. The cost? $1,000 a week.
There are also message boards dedicated to helping women find wet nurses and for lactating women who want to provide that service. There are dangers, warned Pope during the show -- you have no idea about this woman's diet, health, habits, communicable diseases. All of those things will affect a nursing baby. But I assume any parent who hires a wet nurse will look into the person's medical history -- at least I hope so.
I certainly understand the desperation that comes from wanting to breastfeed a child but not being able to. I wasn't a very good "producer" either. And this society is not very understanding about moms who do not breastfeed or give it up too quickly. You can almost feel vilified. For some people, formula is just not acceptable. But having someone nurse for you just feels so bizarre. Breastfeeding is not only about nutrients, it's about bonding with your child. Why in the world would you want some stranger to have that intimate connection with your newborn baby?
Would you pay someone to nurse your baby?
Image via sdminor81/Flickr
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Comments 102
I think about it like this, I wouldn't have wanted to suck on some random ladies boobs(or one of my moms close friends or family members either), so I wouldn't put my child through that. It seems like it would be far easier to get milk from another woman than to get another woman to breastfeed your child(I could be VERY wrong about that, I'm not sure). I'm all for using another womans milk if I don't produce any or enough, but I'm not willing to go so far as to have another woman actually breast feed my child. I don't see that as necessary at all considering to me, the actually act of the child drinking from your breasts is for bonding, so I'd rather feed my child myself with a bottle of another womans milk then have that woman feed my child herself. I don't see why anyone would want that. And last I checked, we don't drink straight from a cows utter.....-_-
gross!
why does the idea of a wet nurse freak ppl out so much, have we grown so ashamed of our bodies that something as generous as wet nursing is just to make some mothers that care so much to breast feed and cant for one reason or another too embarrassed to seek assistance.. Come on AMERICA! get the stick out of your asses!
I was a single mom at 23 and produced a ton of milk! If I could have gotten paid to nurse 2 babies for a job? I would have jumped on that!! It would have been really nice to pay for nursing school that way!
i think it's weird to hire a wet nurse because you'd just rather not breastfeed. but i also think it's kind of weird to use formula just because you'd rather not breastfeed. but if i were having trouble lactating i would definitely co-nurse with a good friend as well as use donor milk. but i can see how it'd be easier to already have a wet nurse lined up. i guess i just don't think it's all that weird.
I am sorry, I have to have a big LOL to all the people who have said, "you would trust the health habits of another human" or "that is gross, you'd let someone elses milk go into your childs body?". YOU LET OTHER PEOPLE CREATE YOUR FORMULA! you think those people are always stand up healthy people with clean hygiene? I highly doubt it. How about the factories and machinery they use to make yoru formula? Do you think that is always sanitzed the correct way? Probably not. you put trust in those people. blind trust, because you can never even lay eyes on them. At least with a wet nurse you can see the woman, and see if she is at least healthy looking on the outside. I am sure these wet nurse agencies test the mothers milk before letting the be hired. just like milk donation sources. What about you trusting the health and wellness of a freaking cow? You realize the lay in their own shit right? you realize the are not our species, right? You realize they can be fed absolute crap food, have hormones injected into them, and other chemicals, right? Point is, I would most definatley use a wet nurse, as well as work as one. A baby needs food. Boob is best. If I can provide for that baby in a way the parent can't, then I would be honored to help.