"A Mom goes to day care mid-day to breastfeed her baby. Another 11 month
old
is there and is distressed. Mom comforts this baby by breastfeeding him.
How would you respond to the radio listeners who called in saying she should
go to jail?"
What an interesting issue! Need more info - like did the BFing mom know the
mother of the "other" baby she nursed? Were they women who nursed each
others' babies on occasion, or did the nsg mom just take it upon herself to
nurse this other kid? (I'm guessing it wasn't a friend nsg a friend's baby
situation, or there wouldn't be such a big stink about it.)
I'd say that the day care center has some responsibility in this; when I did
an in-service for a local day care, I stressed that you can't do this sort
of thing, that the agreement that a baby be given only his/her own mother's
milk (unless mothers had a specific, documented agreement to the contrary!)
should be part of the contract between the center & the mother at the time
of enrollment.
But given the situation Theresa cites, I guess the woman who did the nsg
should offer to be tested for HIV, etc., if that would make the other woman
happy, and be done with it. (The mother of the baby who got nursed needs to
know, though, that this is a big pain, because until results are back -
which can take months, if you're going for "real" results rather than just
the at-the-time-of-this-test-I-am-neg. results - she would be advised to
take precautions that "assume" the results are positive.) Jail?? I don't
think so!
IF it were my baby who got nursed, I guess I'd be taken aback at first, esp.
if it was by someone I didn't know all that well, but I think I'd figure
"oh, what the hell?" and get over it. I remember how dumbfounded I was when
my son's 1st babysitter (he was maybe 21/2 at the time) gave him sweetened,
fruit-mixed-in yogurt for the first time, despite my careful instructions
about no sugar; I was utterly appalled for a few minutes, then took a
broader look at the overall picture and laughed. But I remember it clearly
20 yrs. later!
Cathy Bargar RN IBCLC
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