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Mother of one Grace documented the moment she let her friend breastfeed her newborn and shared a video on her TikTok channel @gregariously_grace. The woman said on the social media platform: “When you’re a few drinks in – so you let your friend nurse your baby.” Grace’s decision left her followers divided in the comments section and although many said it was a “beautiful” thing, others opined that they could never do that.
Mother and TikTok user J Cap explained that her daughter and her nephew are 18 months apart and her sister once “nursed my daughter”.
Another one named Hannah admitted that her daughter “has been breastfed by my friend before, and I fed hers – so helpful”.
May commented that she and her best friend “nurse each other’s babies all the time” and another follower added: “My friend has a seven-month-old and breastfeeds my baby.”
TikTok user Kayla explained: “I nursed practically a strangers baby just about a week ago because I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
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Another one opined that it is not “weird” but added that it would break her heart “to see my baby bond with another mama like that,” Lucy Blake said.
“I feel like people forget that they did this a lot throughout history. Some mums couldn’t produce back then so there were wet nurses,” one added.
However, a TikTok user opined: “For some reason, the thought of someone else feeding my baby always made me so uncomfortable. Definitely, a hang-up for me!”
“Would never want anyone else to feed my baby. Guess I’m a jealous mum,” another said.
TikToker Grace explained that she is also a nanny and that she breastfeeds the baby she looks after. She explained: “The mother specifically asked if I would share.
“Her baby won’t take the bottle. I have enough to share and wouldn’t want any baby to go without. If my body wasn’t safe to breastfeed another infant I wouldn’t even be breastfeeding my own child.”
What is wet nursing?
Wet-nursing or cross-nursing “is the act of breastfeeding someone else’s child,” Verywellfamily explained.
Years ago, when breastfeeding was the only source of food for babies, wet nursing was a very common practice among mothers who were not able to breastfeed their children.
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Experts at First Cry Parenting explained that wet nursing is totally safe. “Wet nursing has been around for thousands of years and is an excellent way to nurse a baby as long as proper precautions are observed”.
“A wet nurse should be well-nourished and healthy with an ample supply of breast milk to feed a baby,” they added.
However, many mums feel uncomfortable with the practice and some expressed their concern on the parenting forum Mumsnet.
A woman with username @NobodySpecial shared on the platform that she feels “a bit uncomfortable about someone actually using a wet nurse for their baby in this day and age” and her post was inundated with comments from other mums sharing their thoughts.
She explained that she knows a woman in her daughter’s school “who had a baby around the same time and she had a nanny/wet nurse for him who looked after him all day and nursed him as well”.
“I find this weird,” she admitted, and others agreed and said that this is not something they would personally do.
“Only if I’d been ill and there’d been a ready and willing wet nurse available, I’d have done it,” one said.
“I can’t help but feel repulsed by the idea,” another Mumsnet user opined and said that she could not see herself feeding anyone else baby or having anyone else feed hers in this way.
