> Nursing someone else's baby (for instance, when baby-sitting) is pretty
much taboo in American culture.  Does anyone know what other cultures take
on this is?

Another LC reported this hospital pediatrics situation: Two Hispanic moms
were tending their babies in the same room. One was experienced & her baby
was 2-3 months old. One was new, a U-turn baby, back in the hospital 24
hours after discharge. LC had been called to assist the new mom/baby pair.
During the discussion, there was a side conversation in Spanish between the
two moms. Two hours later, when the LC returned, new baby was nursing like
a champ. After the LC left, the moms had switched babies. The older baby
taught new mom and the experienced mom taught the newborn. Then when the
newborn went back to new mom, they "got it". Yes, they were strangers to
each other, which makes the rest of us cringe at the potential risks. But
to them, it made perfect sense and solved new mom's problem. Experienced
mom was doing what she would do back home.

Second story is my own. My SIL and I had babies born 10 days apart, mine
being the oldest. My SIL hemorrhaged and went to the hospital. Her baby and
my MIL moved into my place and my husband moved into his siter's house. I
nursed two for 3 days until my SIL came home. If I had known then what I
know now, I could have avoided the chicken-egg of a plugged milk gland that
came on after the sudden cut-back to one baby.

Third: Even in my years as an LLLL, in the Dark Ages before HIV, we
generally warned against cross-nursing for people other than family
members. We always had new young moms forming play groups or caring for
each other's babies for a few hours "off", and they thought it a good idea
to nurse each others' babies. I think they just shut up about it and
continued on their own without the LLLL 'knowing' about it.

Phyllis



--- Phyllis Adamson, IBCLC, RLC
--- Glendale, AZ, USA
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