People say that becoming a mum is uniquely and emotionally intense for the first time. It is because motherhood will completely change your life forever.
Many mums prefer breastfeeding their infants after birth. Sometimes, they often describe it as relief, especially when your breast is full. The good feelings it gives are often emotional as well as physical.
However, how would you feel to find out that your baby was breastfed by someone else without your consent? First-time mum posts on Reddit to share her disappointment that a different mother breastfeeds her son before her. The incident still haunts her even up to this day.
A Mum’s Newborn Baby Was Breastfed by Someone Else
A mum from Reddit gave birth to a little boy. According to her, that incident happened right after she gave birth to her son.
“They took my son to run some tests,” she said. “Instead of bringing him to me, they took him to another room then later brought him to me.”
At that moment, she was not aware that the hospital allowed another mother to breastfeed her child. No one asked for her consent, which frustrates her even now. She only found out about it more than 12 hours later.
“I was extremely shaken up and cried for days,” she added.
As a new mum, she does not know how she would react to what happened. She then decided to let a few months pass before asking for all of their medical records in the hospital.
The mum did not skip any documents, including all of the nurses’ and doctors’ notes. It also includes records of all the feedings that her son had. However, the hospital failed to mention the incident in her records.
Image source: iStock
According to her, “I called the hospital and demanded to know why it was not documented, and to this day, I still have not heard back.”
She then decided to consult some lawyers. To her disappointment, no one seems to be interested in her case.
“I’ve spoken to lawyers,” she said. “They don’t seem to want to help me in explaining why can’t I get a response from the hospital… Some tell me to sue, and some don’t.”
The woman was still confused and did not know where to turn all of it to this day. She then asked for public advice on Reddit,
“The situation still haunts me to this day, and I still get super anxious about leaving my son anywhere. Any advice?”
She left a note saying that the hospital did a full blood test to rule out some sickness in the end part. The mum said she was still worried about what happened despite knowing that.
Readers Discourage Her From Filing a Complaint
Almost all readers discourage the woman from filing a complaint against the hospital. Most of them gave her wise advice by making her understand the pros and cons.
A reader said that it would be better for the woman to just focus on spending time with her son. Aside from that, the reader said,
“I’m saying you’ll lose, it’ll be expensive. In the meantime, you could have been seeking therapy to address the trauma and also playing with your adorable baby.”
Another person agreed with the statement saying,
“I work in healthcare and while they do have rights there’s a good chance they’ll lose and it will very expensive loss.”
Aside from that, someone empathised with the woman and said,
“I understand this has been traumatizing for you. I would be furious too.”
But then, she did not hesitate on telling the painful truth and possibilities regarding her case.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think this reaches that level if the lawyers don’t seem interested because you probably wouldn’t win,” she said. “The hospital did try to remediate by doing tests, so they covered their *ss there.”
Wet Nursing and Breastfeeding Another Woman’s Child
Image source: iStock
Wet nursing or cross-nursing is the act of breastfeeding someone else’s child. They do it because the wet nurses could have a healthier breast milk supply than the child’s own mother.
Aside from that, women who wish to breastfeed an adopted child may cross-nurse to stimulate their breast milk. This kind of practice is an excellent option as long as they observe proper infection precautions.
Wet Nursing and Infectious Disease
There are some health standards that wet-nursing mums should consider. They must be healthy, have no infections and not take any medications.
Nowadays, HIV testing for both the wet-nursing mom and the other woman’s baby has become essential.
Potential Risks
According to Very Well Family, there are some potential risks in wet nursing. The following factors should be evaluated while making such a personal decision:
- The composition of breastmilk will be different if the babies are of different ages or stages of development.
- If the infant is more than four months old, the other woman’s baby may refuse the wet nurse.
- The let-down reflex may be a concern for the wet-nursing mum.
- Infection is always a possibility for the mum, the infant, or both of them.
- There may be an interruption of the breast milk supply for the mother’s own baby.
- Wet nursing may get a negative response from the baby’s siblings and others in the household.
This article has been republished with the permission of theAsianparent Singapore.