vanessa feltz

Yes, but they'd already be lactating as well.

Wet nurses were chosen from "respectable" women who had a child already and were lactating. (They had to be respectable because the child was thought to ingest more than just milk - they could pick up loose morals if the woman wasn't all she should be, and her own baby had been born out of wedlock.)

Often she was feeding both her own child and that of her employer, but sometimes she had to wean her own early to fulfil her obligations.

I don't accept I put my foot in anything Jess and neither was I insensitive, deliberately or otherwise.

you say wean her own child , how did that child survive , there wasn"t Mothercare in those days with all the things on offer, that Mums couldn't live with out + baby jars of food !

Everyone makes jokes about Vanessa Feltz! How could anyone take offence at that one of Aka' s? Ridiculous.

Nonu, the child would have been fed bread and cow's milk, mashed potato, ordinary food etc. They were probably breastfed for longer then anyway!

I'm sure someone told me my mum's cousin's adopted son was fed on evaporated milk with whiskey in it [the whiskey only being sometimes].

Sometimes their own children took second place (and may have died) nonu or even had to be left with relatives if the baby being fed was high born. But remember that some women feed twins or even triplets.
I don't see why a woman that had fed lots of babies when faced with a grandchild who needed feeding might not re-lactate easily before the child died, as long as the baby was willing to suck a lot for a day or two, like they do on a dummy.

Hmm...a day or two? I'm not convinced.

I've known this happen with dogs. Two of our pups went to a home that already had an elderly, virgin bitch. She started to mother them, lick them, snuggle up with them. The puppies, even though they were weaned, tried to suckle her and she start lactating within 24 hours.
Nature is amazing.

Oh well, it must be true of humans too then...

Jess , I did breast feed twins , as it happens .

Only thing is that my 20 month old kept bouncing up and down on the bed , so it was all a bit fraught, to say the least. me and the babies were going from side to side .
Had to end sad to say . there you go !!
slighty .

I wish I could draw nonu! The picture you have created in my head.....

Aka I smile now , at the time it was a bit of a nightmare .
Still I survived to tell the tale !!
Thursday , might just have a small one !

Blimey Nonu, I thought I was bad enough with two in eleven months two weeks!

Thanks for your info Jess. Really fascinating. Have you known anybody to actually do this? I too lived for a time in Africa Papaoscar and saw family members helping out with baby feeding but usually they were young woman. Saw older women looking after the older children and nursing mothers but never breast feeding.

Frankly, I just wouldn't fancy it myself at this time of life. Especially as I am missing a bit of the necessary equipment!

As I wrote on another thread, my DIL managed to breast feed an adopted baby when she was in her late 40s.
She has no children of her own.

quite an achievement triciaF and not for the fainthearted.

Respect to your DIL Tricia! Amazing.

You know, I've learned a lot of things since I've been on gransnet, with the wealth of knowledge that's on here but I think this is the most amazing thing I've learned thus far. I sort of want to go out and tell people [but it's not the sort of thing that crops up in every day conversation ]. I also wonder if the idea that you need a 'decent' wet nurse may not have a slight grain of truth to it in that perhaps breast feeding a baby that has, perhaps come from a troubled family imparts more than just food and comfort to the child? Fascinating. I also wonder if adoptive parents are told about this?

Right. Who's going to go out and buy a breast pump and have a go?

Not me. I did my bit forty-eight years ago - not very successfully, gave up in the end of resorted to the bottle (with great success)

Bottle for baby, not me, though a drop of the hard stuff would have been very welcome, I was so stressed about it all.

I assume they are Tegan.

I knew someone who adopted a baby 37 years' ago and she was told.

don't think a breast pump would work from a standing start. More suction than suck-ing, but I could be wrong. Would you like to do the experiment jingle - and we could publish the results on this thread? Along with the video?