I was not sure what a Wet Nurse even was until I came across this piece of writing by Tralee Pearce. It says that women who are not in position to nurse their young ones because of either reason may go in for Wet Nursing or Cross Nursing.
The phenomenon is really growing into the North American mainstream to serve babies at risk, including sick and premature infants.
In Canada, the only milk bank is the B.C. Women’s Milk Bank, connected to the B.C. Women’s Hospital. Last year, the bank served 500 recipients, up from only 33 in 1999, and even shipped to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.
In both Montreal and Toronto, medical teams are working on getting additional banks up and running.
Community based networks
For women lacking their own network of milk donors, Craigslist and eBay postings have popped up hawking breast milk and at least one non-profit website operates as an online breast-milk swap meet.
In the United States, California-based Prolacta Bioscience sells fortified breast milk to U.S. hospitals for upwards of $100 (U.S.) a day. And in Beverly Hills, clients of Certified Household Staffing can order a wet nurse from the company’s website, along with cleaning ladies and nannies.
How safe is someone else’s breast milk?
Medical practitioners have cautioned potential milk recipients who rely on their own community-based networks that their babies risk contracting disease.
To ensure the safety of banked milk, banks follow guidelines set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, including screening milk donors for viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C, and pasteurizing milk to kill any bacteria.
Is wet nursing acceptable?
Sharing milk helps to alleviate the feeling of being tied down by a nursing infant, mothers say. But infants of different ages require a specific composition of milk. Milk from the baby’s own mother will provide the exact make-up the infant needs; another mother whose baby is not the same age may not provide the same components.
However, I think in areas where people do not have easy or affordable access to formula or for medical reasons and where a sick infant needs breast milk, wet nursing is acceptable.
