Very interested in this thread, and the others about finger-feeding,
artificial feeding of all kinds, and banked milk.
All our gizmos, and all our professionals and techniques are just
substitutes for the missing lactating aunties and friends.
Mom on death's doorstep after delivery? Aunt nurses the baby till mom is
back in the game.
Mom with flat nipples and baby befuddled? Aunt nurses him until someone
else, maybe someone's older baby, or a paid person, sucks mom's nipples out
and the engorgement is past.
Mom with a preemie? Aunt nurses him, mostly expressing it into his mouth,
until mom's milk is well in.

The other day the nurses called me to see a mom whose 1-day-old was nursing
a lot but not satisfied. They had already repositioned, and nursing wasn't
painful, but not satisfying either. It took about 15 minutes to finish where
I was and get to the room. There sat mom in the bed, holding a peacefully
sleeping baby. Mom's sister sat in the chair by the bed, also holding a
peacefully sleeping baby. You guessed it-sister had just finished nursing
mom's baby, and mom was holding her nephew, whose mom had fed him just
before. I didn't like the part about how aunt was boasting about how much
milk she had and sneering about how little mom had, but I sure did like the
parts about everybody wanted the new baby to have as much as she wanted, and
the assumption that nursing really works (at least after you have lots of
milk!). Now I wish that, in addition to a doula, every mom could bring a wet
nurse. We  wouldn't have to worry about formula at all.

Half seriously: maybe, in addition to milk banks, we should be working to
establish a registry of state-licensed "sanitary" wet nurses (squeaky-clean
health history, regular testing). Maybe this is a tired old sentiment on
Lactnet, in which case, apologies-I have to spend more time off than on.

Ann Lown, RN RLC, St. Vincent Hospital, Santa Fe, New Mexico

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