I have a book at home on the history of childhood.  Sorry I don't have
the name because I am at the hospital now.  Puppies were used to bring
in mature milk because colostrum was felt to be harmful to the babies.

On the mother who was told it is illegal to sleep with her 3 year old.
You need to be very careful here and get the whole story.  I live in
Florida where we had five children murdered in one WEEK because case
workers did not step in and take the children from the home.  All were
known to the system.
I was called in by a caseworker because a mother was nursing her six
year old daughter to sleep.  A nurse had reported the family.  The whole
story was much worse and bizarre.  Actually, the nursing was the only
safe normal thing happening in that family.  They were kept together but
the fifteen year old brother was put in another bed and the father was
told to stop smoking marijuana in front of the children (he was the
primary care giver - mom worked two jobs).  The six year old was allowed
to continue nursing but mom was encouraged to wean with cuddling,
stories and back rubs. Mom wanted to wean but felt guilty for lack of
time with her daughter because of her work hours.  Clients rarely tell
the whole story and often don't "hear" everything.  Those of us who do
phone counseling know that women who are tired and desperate only
remember about half of what we tell them and that they need to have a
written recommendation sent or follow up phone call.  Case workers don't
do either of those two things simply because of time constraints.
There are no easy answers here.  There are horror stories of children
being taken from families in error and those left to die out of poor
judgment and lack of staff.  Seeing the beaten children, I am in favor
of erring on the side of caution but once again our funding does not go
to adequate training, staff or foster homes.
Debi Lanning/St. Petersburg, FL.