http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htxMJ4cfQs That's the original video (the one they're talking about in the clip) so it doesn't have the ignorant announcer comments (honestly, who needs that guy?) Just beware of the comments in both videos, they're really ignorant. I think it's awesome. I think more women should donate milk, though the facilities are sparse. There needs to be more support for milk donation and a normalization of donating milk, though I suppose we can't normalize donation until we normalize breastfeeding itself.

Thanks for the second link. I almost posted just to say, "Wow. That host was really a douchbag," but I didn't b/c I figured that wasn't why boigrrl posted the clip. I wonder where the baby's mother was - was there some reason that she was unable to feed the baby herself? It seems wierd that the mother of the one week old wasn't mentioned at all in this clip. One thing to be really careful about with cross-nursing is that certain pathogens/diseases can be passed on through breastmilk, so it's important for the baby's mama to be familiar with the risks, the donor's health history, and to give permission.

I'll probably get hated on for saying this, but I think it's really inappropriate that she did this. I think it's great if nursing moms share their breast milk with hungry babies but that can be done by expressing and bottles. To feed a complete stranger with your breasts just feels like a boundary issue to me. The mother wasn't in the clip so it's hard to tell how she felt about the whole thing, but it's easy to imagine that some rich, celebrity comes in with a camera crew and that would be hard to say no to.

Quote:The mother wasn't in the clip so it's hard to tell how she felt about the whole thing, but it's easy to imagine that some rich, celebrity comes in with a camera crew and that would be hard to say no to. This was the part that rubbed me the wrong way, although I wasn't sure how to put it. - As far as sharing milk by expressing goes, I think it depends on personal boundaries (expressing milk a lot of extra work). When I was a baby, I had cousins my same age and so my aunts and mother would sometimes cross-nurse if one of them was babysitting, and I've nursed other babies (of good friends of mine) before. The difference is that it's always been because their mothers wanted me to. I definitely think it's a little creepy that this baby's mama isn't even mentioned in the clip. The video makes it seem like this is more about Selma than anything else. It's almost like the baby is a prop, you know? That might be the fault of the people who put together the clip, though. I don't know. - Mamamayhem - I definitely agree with you about the need for more support for/normalization of milk donation.

The mother of the baby was reportedly malnourished herself and not lactating. I'm really curious about what the mother thought of this, too, since the press has made a big deal about how in the culture of that woman there is a taboo around lactating women and sex - perhaps they believe that makes the milk "bad" and she wouldn't want her child drinking that? Or maybe she was happy to have such quality nutrition for her starving child? Dunno - and I can't find an article that cares. That said, I've nursed a friend's baby. I've also donated my milk to a mother of twins who had supply issues whom I didn't know. Of course bottle feeding a baby human milk is better than bottle feeding formula, but actually breastfeeding is what's best. Breastfeeding (as opposed to bottle feeding, even when it's human milk) has a lot of benefits in terms of the child's oral development (they are more likely to have their teeth grow in straight and not have an over/underbite), so for me it's not necessarily crossing a boundary as long as everyone is totally on board.

Actually the taboo of lactating women and sex is a purely western development. In other cultures cross-feeding is really very common. They take the idea of "it takes a village" to heart, and it's not unheard of to share your milk with your nieces and nephews, your grandchildren, your cousins. If you have milk and a baby's hungry, you feed it. I understand feeling squeemish about it, like it violates your bond with your baby, or that mother's bond with her baby. I used to feel the same way until here at GM some cross-feeding mamas told me what it was about. Cross-feeding is really, really beneficial in third world countries when it's possible because if a mother is having trouble lactating, it provides an alternative to feeding the infant formula using water which is often dirty in these areas (and here is where it opens up the option of a conversation about abhorrent global practices of Nestle Co. and their formula mongering) and it helps keep the kids healthy.