Would you let a stranger breastfeed your babyHave you heard the story about the mum who let five strangers breastfeed her baby?

She was taken into hospital and put on strong medication so sheΒ couldn’t feed her 10-month-oldΒ son herself, and the baby wouldn’t take a bottle or formula.

So she put a shout out on a breastfeeding Facebook page she’s a member of and within an hour a total stranger arrived at the hospital to help. Over the next few days five different women fed her baby for her, and hundreds more volunteered their services, until she was off the medication and able to take over again.

I think this is an amazing story, and if I came across such a plea I would definitely offer to help. (I’ve only got to hear another baby cry in a coffee shop and I get the letdown reflux).

Although I haven’t donated breast milk with either of mine I have several friends who have donated their milk to their local neo natal unit milk banks for babies whose mums can’t feed them for a host of reasons, such as being too poorly, or because their baby was born too soon and their milk hasn’t come in yet.

There’s really no difference between this story of the mum who enlisted volunteer wet nurses and accepting donated milk, except that you’re cutting out the middleman and getting it straight from the horse’s mouth. Or boob.

But would I let a stranger breastfeed my baby? My instinct says no, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t want someone else sharing that special bond between me and my baby. But it’s not about me. What if my baby really wouldn’t take milk from anywhere else? What then? The truth is I just don’t know.

But what I find most interesting about the whole story is that the baby in question happily accepted the boobs of total strangers he had never met before, with different scents and pheromones and tastes. I find that absolutely fascinating.

There’s meΒ thinkingΒ I’m the only one who can give Little B what he needs, and the truth isΒ he probably doesn’t care where it comes from. Typical.

What do you think? Would you let a stranger breastfeed your baby?

Linking up with…

Mami 2 Five
Life Love and Dirty Dishes
A Cornish Mum