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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Would you nurse a friend's child?

I found this great article on Parenting.com regarding cross-nursing. Would you let someone else nurse your child or would you nurse someone else's child.

I though about this long and hard...

If for some reason I was not able to nurse Christophe or express milk for him; ( I am pretty sure the only reason why this would happen is if I was dead or in critical condition in a hospital ) I would prefer, if possible, for him to receive breast-milk from another mother that had a similar life style then I did over formula. So yes if the scenario was there I would let someone else nurse my baby. I believe breast-milk it far superior to formula and weather it comes from me or someone else breast is best. However that said if I was just running late for 30 mins or was out running an errand and someone decided to nurse him without asking me first I would be furious. It's a trust issue, I would want to make sure the mom that is nursing him follows the same strict policies as I do as to what they ingest in their bodies. Also if you were baby-sitting someone's child and the mother left you with strict instructions as to what to gave them for lunch would you change the child's lunch or offer him something different; I would not it's all about respect.

Now for the flip side would I nurse someone else's baby; yes. As long as the mom gave me her consent and it did not effect Christophe supply I definitely would. I am sure if she had the courage to ask it means she really needed the help.

So would you cross nurse?

To read the full article go to Parenting.com

Image by Geoffrey Wiseman.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I know somebody who nursed someone else's child, but this was in an emergency situation.
I think I would do the same. If I were in an accident, let's say, I would prefer Xavier continue to nurse as opposed to be offered formula (as long as the other mom isn't always running to fast food places LOL).
I would also help someone in the same situation.
Breast is best no matter who's breast baby is getting it from.
Did you know that in some hospitals, mother's are actually encouraged to donate expressed milk to premies and other sikly babies in NICU who are too small or sick to breastfeed?

Pierrette said...

I have debated over and over about pumping and donating to a milk bank, but right now I have a hard time keeping up with everything else I have to do. I might look into it once Christophe starts solids.