'When I minded my sister's baby, and my niece's baby, I would breastfeed them, too. It was an instinctive thing'
A controversial documentary is exploring the subject of wet nursing. Sue Leonard meets some Irish mothers who have done it
Mother knows best: GMTV's Kate Garraway with her daughter Darcey
We're constantly told that breast is best; that it protects babies from infection and is the best choice for growing babies. But if, for whatever reason, you were unable to feed your baby yourself, would you hand the task over to another woman?
In Victorian times, the well-off would employ a wet nurse in conjunction with a nanny and a governess. But surely today's woman would give a bottle of formula in preference?
It seems that this is not always the case. Some women allow it, because they so abhor the thought of feeding their child with cow's milk. They see it as akin to a woman breastfeeding a calf.
GMTV's Kate Garraway has been exploring the topic for a Channel 4 documentary called Other People's Breast Milk, and she was astounded to discover women who have, indeed, breastfed other people's babies.
There was Vanessa Beecroft, an artist who went out to the Sudan in 2006. Seeing starving newborn twins, she instinctively put them to her breast. Aid workers are convinced she saved the babies' lives.
She later photographed herself with the twins suckling her breasts
Ann McCrea, a lactation consultant who works in Ireland's only milk bank, has seen 'wet nursing' in action.
"I worked in London in the late 1970s when hospitals had no interpreters," she says. "I was trying to help an Indian lady breastfeed, but I could not get her baby to latch on.
"She called her aunty for help. The aunty arrived and started breastfeeding the baby. At the next feed, the baby latched on to his mother with no problem. That help was part of their culture."
Does it happen in Ireland though? It does, according to Jan Cromie, PRO for La Leche League. "But it happens under the radar," she says.
According to Sue Jamieson, a breastfeeding tutor with Cuidiu, a parent-to-parent support group, sisters and best friends will, on occasion, feed each other's babies. "But they would never admit it," she says. "Often it happens when a mother doesn't appear at the appointed time. The baby is squalling. They put it to the breast by instinct.
"I suspect that more people have done this than will admit to it. But it's a sensitive issue, especially in Ireland, where breastfeeding in public is not yet acceptable."
Jane (not her real name) breastfed all her three children.
"From time to time, when I minded my sister's baby, and my niece's baby, I would breastfeed them, too," she says. "It was an instinctive thing. I knew no other way to comfort them.
"I did tell the mothers about it. I would have said: 'If this baby cries, I know one way to sort it out.' As both of them were such close members of my family, they had no problem with that. They just wanted to know that their wee ones were cared for.
"I have looked after other babies, and my instinct would be to breastfeed them. It is a temptation, particularly when you have never bottle fed. I would say to myself: 'You cannot do it'. With family it is different. They know that I am healthy, and am not HIV positive."
Sinead (not her real name) once fed another woman's baby.
"I feel now that I was hoodwinked into it," she says. "A friend asked me to babysit. I was breastfeeding at the time. She said, 'I am really tired. Would you mind feeding the baby a bottle of formula?
"I could not get the baby to take the bottle. I tried everything, and, in desperation, I put the baby to my breast. I never said anything. But I was talking to another friend, who had also babysat that baby. She had the same problem, and had found the same solution. We suspect the mother hoped that that would happen."
Many mums would hate to hand over something as intimate as breastfeeding to another woman. But if their baby was sick; if they needed human milk to help them survive they would have no problem giving their baby milk to Ireland's milk bank. Lactating mums donate their milk to the Sperrin Lakeland Milk Bank in Fermanagh.
It works much like a blood bank. The milk is screened and pasteurised, before being sent to neonatal units, and other hospitals where there are babies in need. The baby will receive milk from just one mother.
"Women are really grateful for donor milk," says Ann McCrea who distributes the milk. "It can make the difference between a baby living and dying.
"It's wet nursing, modern-style. We don't send the mother; we just send the milk. One mum has now helped 46 babies to survive. That's astonishing."
Other People's Breast Milk is on Channel 4 at 10pm tonight. For information on Ireland's milk bank, or to donate milk, call 048 686 28333 or email milkbank@sperrinlakeland.freeserve.co.uk
'I asked friends to express their milk for me'
"I have breastfed all my children," says Kate Byrne, a mother of seven sons. "It's really important to me. But when I gave birth to Tadgh in 2006, I had a planned C-section at 36 weeks.
"I had placenta praevia, and afterwards I had a bad haemorrhage. I was very weak, and for the first day I barely saw Tadgh.
"I had worried this might happen and I had spoken to the lactation nurse beforehand.
"If possible I wanted Tadgh with me, but as a backup, I'd asked friends to express their milk for me. I told the nurse this, but she said they could not store the milk on the premises.
"The next day, when I was still very sick, Tadgh was given formula milk from a cup. He vomited it up.
"My husband was begging them to feed him the expressed breast milk from my friends, but they said it was against hospital policy. They said it would have had to be screened first.
"Nobody had mentioned that to me, or I could have set that up beforehand. All of that really upset me.
"There are allergies in the family, and to this day, Tadgh can't take dairy. His skin comes up in a rash, and he gets an upset tummy.
"I know someone who had breastfed another woman's baby. She was looking after the baby while the mum was at work. Both of them were happy with it.
"I don't know, though, if I could feed someone else's child or if I could let someone else feed mine.
"For me, the big thing about breastfeeding is the bond it builds up.
"It is an incredibly intimate thing between me and my child. And to allow someone else to have that intimacy would not make me happy.
"I think it would depend on the relationship you had with the person who was offering. There is one person I would not have an issue with, and that is Tadgh's Godmother.
"It's not about the milk. It's about the relationship."
