Has anyone read Alex Haley's "Queen"?  I just finished in about 6 weeks
ago.  Queen was Haley's grandmother (I think).  She wet nursed her own baby
and a white woman's baby in exchange for room and board.   According to the
book, Queen's baby was always second fiddle to her employer's baby,
although it seemed that the baby thrived despite all sorts of adversity
(probably because it spent so much time in his mother's arms...)

I've even run across a handful of moms, all LLL, who have helped other new
moms by wet nursing vs using formula or breastmilk in a bottle.  In these
cases the wet nursing situation worked out well for them.  All of these
women were either related or very close friends.  In fact, I'd never heard
of wet nursing until I was fresh out of nursing school at the ripe old age
of 21.  Didn't even learn about it in a health care setting.  Learned mom
to expectant mom.  I'll always believe that the true BF experts are the BF
moms themselves.

Sick of the freezing rain and ice, so I'll be watching Mad About You with
my teeth clinched like the rest of you...

Maurenne Griese, RNC, BSN, CCE, CBE
Birth and Breastfeeding Resources
Manhattan, KS  USA
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