Not to mention that wet-nursing made it easy for infections to be passed from the wet-nurse's biological child to the other child, and vice versa. I remember reading in a history book once that in 18th century England (if memory serves) the privileged section of society which typically farmed its babies out to wet-nurses had infant mortality rates comparable to the poorest section of society. Women who were well off enough to have good nutrition but not well off enough that they could afford a wet-nurse (or felt social pressure from their peers to hire one) had the lowest infant mortality rates at that time.
Can't remember the name of the book, so I don't have a source, but it seems pretty logical to me. I mean, of course if the mother is dead or unable to breastfeed for medical reasons then wet-nursing is a significantly better option than letting the baby starve to death. But in this day and age who the hell could even *find* a wet-nurse? I don't even know where you'd start looking: Craigslist, maybe? I'm thinking if the mother really can't breastfeed, formula might just be a better option for her, her baby, the potential wet-nurse, and that woman's baby, unless the wet-nurse lives next door.
BTW, my mom was a La Leche League leader, so I grew up with a lot of pro-breastfeeding messages. But every so often there would be a woman my mom or a lactation consultant couldn't help, and I don't recall my mom thinking they were horrible people. Bear in mind, also, that she was volunteering with LLL in the late 70's and early 80's, back when new mothers were routinely sent home from Canadian hospitals with formula trial packs, and often none of the staff on the maternity ward had any knowledge about breastfeeding. A lot of the women who came to her for advice had problems that were fairly easy to fix as long as you knew something about breastfeeding. And it's my understanding that maternity ward staff and pediatricians these days have a lot more knowledge re: common problems with breastfeeding and don't see it as weird or unhygienic when women want to breastfeed. I wouldn't know from personal experience, since I don't have kids and probably never will (dear God, I hope not. I like other people's kids. I can give them back when I get tired of them!).
And I know from stuff my mom has said in the past that some of the people at LLL were kind of...dogmatic. Don't know what they're like these days, since she hasn't been involved in a few decades. In my book, somebody who's given it their best shot for weeks on end, and had a midwife and a lactation consultant advising her, well, if she can't breastfeed even with all that commitment and all that expert help, then probably nobody could under her particular circumstances. I mean, that's just logic at work. Yeah, of course breastfeeding is in general a good thing, but it's not the only factor that determines whether somebody's a good mother or whether her baby will thrive. I mean, a bottle-fed baby who's getting his/her needs met by loving parents is probably going to do a lot better than a breastfed baby who is neglected in other ways. Anybody who honestly thinks that breastfeeding is the One True Determining Factor in whether or not somebody's a good mother needs to step back and get a reality check.
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Date: 2006-04-12 09:46 pm (UTC)Can't remember the name of the book, so I don't have a source, but it seems pretty logical to me. I mean, of course if the mother is dead or unable to breastfeed for medical reasons then wet-nursing is a significantly better option than letting the baby starve to death. But in this day and age who the hell could even *find* a wet-nurse? I don't even know where you'd start looking: Craigslist, maybe? I'm thinking if the mother really can't breastfeed, formula might just be a better option for her, her baby, the potential wet-nurse, and that woman's baby, unless the wet-nurse lives next door.
BTW, my mom was a La Leche League leader, so I grew up with a lot of pro-breastfeeding messages. But every so often there would be a woman my mom or a lactation consultant couldn't help, and I don't recall my mom thinking they were horrible people. Bear in mind, also, that she was volunteering with LLL in the late 70's and early 80's, back when new mothers were routinely sent home from Canadian hospitals with formula trial packs, and often none of the staff on the maternity ward had any knowledge about breastfeeding. A lot of the women who came to her for advice had problems that were fairly easy to fix as long as you knew something about breastfeeding. And it's my understanding that maternity ward staff and pediatricians these days have a lot more knowledge re: common problems with breastfeeding and don't see it as weird or unhygienic when women want to breastfeed. I wouldn't know from personal experience, since I don't have kids and probably never will (dear God, I hope not. I like other people's kids. I can give them back when I get tired of them!).
And I know from stuff my mom has said in the past that some of the people at LLL were kind of...dogmatic. Don't know what they're like these days, since she hasn't been involved in a few decades. In my book, somebody who's given it their best shot for weeks on end, and had a midwife and a lactation consultant advising her, well, if she can't breastfeed even with all that commitment and all that expert help, then probably nobody could under her particular circumstances. I mean, that's just logic at work. Yeah, of course breastfeeding is in general a good thing, but it's not the only factor that determines whether somebody's a good mother or whether her baby will thrive. I mean, a bottle-fed baby who's getting his/her needs met by loving parents is probably going to do a lot better than a breastfed baby who is neglected in other ways. Anybody who honestly thinks that breastfeeding is the One True Determining Factor in whether or not somebody's a good mother needs to step back and get a reality check.