Posted on 03/22/2004 4:10:39 PM PST by ownZero
Wet-nursing makes a comeback in Hollywood
By Martin Patience
The Web site for Certified Household Staffing appears like a throwback to Victorian times, when the moneyed classes hired teams of servants. The site sports images of butlers with bow ties, nannies in black and white uniforms and gamekeepers dressed in tweeds. But the agency offers another service associated with times long past: wet nurses.
Robert Feinstock, 65, the owner of the Beverly Hills, Calif., company, believes his business is one of the few in the United States that offers wet nurses, or women who suckle other peoples' children. He says he provides a needed service to mothers who want their children to thrive on breast milk but for whatever reason are unable to perform the task themselves.
"The mother recognizes the need for her baby to experience the close bond that arises when a baby suckles on a woman's breast," he says.
Feinstock says the majority of his clients are women who have undergone cosmetic breast augmentation, which impairs their ability to breast-feed. According to the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, women with breast implants are three times more likely to have inadequate milk supply when trying to breast-feed.
Breast milk is widely believed to bolster the immune system and reduce the incidence of illnesses like meningitis, pneumonia and leukemia. Some breast milk proponents believe that breast-fed children are happier and more intelligent than bottle-fed babies.
Child experts, however, have warned that using a wet nurse can lead to infection and psychological damage.
"I wouldn't encourage breast-feeding by a surrogate mother," says Dr. Ruth Lawrence, director of the Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study Center at the University of Rochester in upstate New York. Lawrence says wet-nursed babies risk contracting tuberculosis, HIV or Hepatitis B.
Babies can also experience emotional trauma if they form a deep emotional attachment with a wet nurse who suddenly departs, says Alice Sterling Honig, a professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at Syracuse University.
"If the baby's parents are busy professionals, and the only loving relationship a baby has is with a wet nurse, that baby could suffer major emotional trauma when the wet nurse leaves," Honig says.
Wet nurses were commonly employed in upper-class households in the United States and Europe, particularly France, until the late 19th century, when formula milk was not widely available. After World War I, some American hospitals still employed wet nurses to suckle sickly babies who could not be breast-fed by their mothers.
The advent of improved milk formula, however, decreased demand for wet nurses, says Dr. Janet Golden, a history professor at Rutgers University who authored the book "A Social History of Wet Nursing in America: From Breast to Bottle."
Wet-nursing also declined because of the growing social stigma attached to the profession. Women who wet-nursed often abandoned their own babies to feed the babies of the wealthy, Golden says.
Historically, most of the women who went into wet-nursing had no other means of support. "Wet nurses were always seen as troublesome," Golden says. "What if they say 'I'm leaving.' Then who would the child suckle?"
Feinstock, however, defends his service, saying that all potential wet nurses are medically screened and that the women, who often live with their employers, are not exploited. He says some women become wet nurses when they realize they have an overabundance of breast milk and want to make extra money. Most women can simultaneously breast-feed two babies, as in the case of twins.
But Feinstock admits that wet-nursing can be a fickle business, "If a woman dries up, she's out of business."
He refused to divulge the names of wet nurses or clients, citing professional confidentiality.
Breast-feeding has become popular again in recent years. In 1970, breast-feeding hit an all-time low in the United States, with only 24 percent of women with newborns engaging in the practice, according to the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories. By 2001, 69.5 percent of women with newborns were breast-feeding.
But the increase in cosmetic breast surgery means some women are unable to breast-feed. Women who have implants inserted through the nipple, rather than under the breast or through the armpit, run a higher risk of being unable to breast-feed, says Dr. James Wells, a plastic surgeon in Long Beach, Calif.
While breast implants inserted through the nipple generally cause less scarring, they can interfere with breast tissue and milk ducts, and thus impair the ability to produce milk. After the procedure, some women are unable to breast-feed at all, he said.
Feinstock believes that the number of wet nurses will increase as more women elect cosmetic breast surgery.
Golden, however, remains unconvinced of a potential employment boom in wet-nursing, adding, "I don't think wet-nursing is going to create 3 million jobs lost by the Bush administration."
ownZero
The womans a boob.
Someone had to say it:)
If this were to occur, we would all be wearin' "Bros" and Kramer would be "leche" rich!!!
To be fair, this is not the reporter's injection of politics, but the subject's.
Hey! Not all of us in the history field are crazy. :)
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