Fashionable words!

Pink Princess - sometimes when I hear about people complaining about mothers discreetly feeding their babies I think they still think it is 'animal-like'.

Sorry if I have made a big gap, laptop playing up.

The royal family used wet nurses, certainly in Queen Mary(present Queen's grandmother)'s time.Royalty, and other's of high birth, considered it animal like to breastfeed and hired wet nurses to do it.

















































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I think the human race would not have survived if our neolithic ancestors had not fed each others babies - when mothers died, when they were sick, when they did not have enough milk, when they went out fishing etc Grandmothers must often have stepped into the breach. Women will have been lactating almost permanently from the time they give birth to their first child until they died.
It is not that common in our culture in current times, so it seems strange to many people I guess.

Ana, I'm not having a pop at you. But why do you find it odd? I'd really like to know, as I think it's a lovely thing to do for a sister.

The parent company? I don't follow.

I still thought GofW was utterly creepy. Wet nurses never went round BFing starving men as far as we know or women for that matter. I felt only a man could write that. Wonder what they would think onthe parent company . I always wondered if they were so short of food how could she produce so much milk.

Not you, thatbags.

It's not criticism to ask why you think something odd. It's just a question.

Sorry, thatbags - had to go off for a restorative bowl of cereal...

Whatever I say will be criticised and dissected, so I'm not going to try and answer your first question. As to The Grapes of Wrath, yes I did read it years ago and obviously breast-milk could be a life-saver in that kind of extreme situation.

Not sure if they actually fed each others babies but DD2 certainly shared milk . She produced masses & if DD1s baby was hungry and there was spare milk in the fridge the other baby had it. She also gave milk to the hospital for a few weeks. Think they would have been happy to feed each others..certainly DD2 who found BF easy. DD1 struggled a bit at first.

Thanks for the link, bags - now you have sent me back to re-read Steinbeck!

If not, you may wonder why I ask. But the end of the book is significant to your finding breastfeeding any but one's own baby odd. www.shmoop.com/grapes-of-wrath/ending.html

And have you read The Grapes of Wrath?

Why do you think it's odd? Please.

Good.

And I didn't criticise anyone's family. I said I thought it was odd, that's all. No need to get so defensive - obviously I'm in the minority here and I accept that.

Sorry. Odd. Why is it odd?

Have you read The Grapes of Wrath?

I didn't say I was shocked.

Of course you can be prudish, Ana - as long as you don't use your own feelings to criticise anybody else's family.

Have we? I'd forgotten. Anyhow, no-one needs to stay a prude unless they wish to.

But why is it odd? You didn't answer the question. Well-off women used to get poor women to feed their babies so breastfeeding someone else's kid is hardly something new and unheard of.

Why are you shocked?

You don't have to be sisters to breastfeed someone else's child.

Don't be so silly, bluebell - I'm certainly not a member that everyone always agrees with!

Greatnan and Bags, we've already established on another thread that I'm a prude, so I'll carry on, if nobody minds...

Sh.....Ana might think you are shouting!

Fortunately, Ana, your opinion is not of much importance to my daughters! They regard breast feeding as the most natural thing in the world, and when their nephew was crying, and they had plenty of milk, they did what mothers do all over the world. No need to be prudish!