Other Peoples Breastmilk
Next Tuesday see’s the airing of the latest edition of the G-Spot series on Channel 4, and one that tackles the highly emotive issue of breastfeeding. Kate Garraway visits communites in which breastfeeding other peoples infants is completely normal, and examines the root issues of why such practices are so controversial in our society.
Kate says of breastfeeding:
”It’s the most natural thing in the world, but it can still generate such a strong reaction from people. It’s still seen as something that’s dirty. Yet in other cultures, women can breastfeed each other’s babies, for example, and nobody bats an eyelid.”
We are really excited to watch the show, and are interested in the public reactions to it. Particularly when the mothers raise the fact that most people have no issue drinking the milk of a cow, but are squemish at the thought of drinking another humans milk- which is of course a very topsy-turvy way of thinking!
”Many people might think it is weird, but they argue it is much weirder to drink cow’s milk, which is, after all, from the breast of another species, than it is to drink it from a woman. I’m not saying that I would have been able to have my daughter fed by someone else if I’d been unable to breastfeed, but it certainly makes a degree of sense.”
Be sure to mark it in your diary- Tuesday 9th September, 10pm Channel 4
Do pop back and share your thoughts on the show!
September 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Looking forward 2 watching this too, should be really interesting.
I knew a woman who provided breastmilk for a living, she supplied about 6 different babies in the local area.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I donated my excess milk (I had more than twice what my baby needed) to the local neo-natal unit milk bank. This is seen as a massive act of charity for prem babies etc so then what is the difference with an older baby? We do live in a funny old world.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Will this be broadcast online? I’m in the US and would love to see the show.
Thanks!
September 5th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
You will be able to watch it on the Channel 4 site I think, here http://www.channel4.com/watch_online/
Enjoy!
September 10th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I really enjoyed the documentrey on breast feeding as i am a young woman a plan to have children in the cuming years,
I do not fully agree wiv feeding other peoples children, but i think that there would be a apart ov me that would probabley want my sister to feed my child if she could.
The doctors have sed breast is best so why arnt people excepting it.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I too really enjoyed the documentary, I thought Kate did a really good job of being neutral, yet totally open to the new ideas she was coming across.
On the whole, I think the women were all portrayed very well, I particularly liked the woman who donated so much milk to the NHS. Unfortunately the woman who referred to it as a ’sexual’ thing did very little to help the cause- and sadly it is the negative points, however minor, that are often the ones that are remembered and referred to afterwards.
Ive been fortunate to have successfully breastfed my daughter for 15 months (and still going strong), but would have certainly been open to wet nursing had I been unable to feed her myself- even more so after watching the show. I would also breastfeed another child if I needed to.
I think the woman who induced her lactation after adoption was a fantastic role model, and she was absolutely correct when she said that most women quit too easily. Personally I struggled to get it right for a good 6 weeks, which were the toughest of my life- but they were worth every minute for the breastfeeding relationship that developed from it.