London - It is seen as a special bond between mother and baby - but Ronja Wiedenbeck was delighted for five strangers to breastfeed her son Rio.
For they had each answered a desperate plea she made on the internet as she lay ill in hospital too full of painkillers to feed the 11-month-old safely herself.
Nearly 1 000 women from all over the country offered to come and feed him for her - and the first volunteer arrived within an hour. Miss Wiedenbeck, 26, spoke of her gratitude to the strangers who stepped in during her week-long stay in hospital, whom she nicknamed the “angel mummies”.
But some people criticised the practice - known as wet nursing - as “unnatural”, and Miss Wiedenbeck, a single mother and part-time model, admitted she faced backlash for sharing photographs on social media of Rio being fed by the five. However, health experts say wet nursing is one of the best alternatives to a mother’s own milk.
Miss Wiedenbeck said: “A lot of people find it disgusting or perverse, but it was very common hundreds of years ago and thankfully breastfeeding women support each other so nicely nowadays that wet nursing is becoming a more often-done thing. Rio was so comfortable.”
Miss Wiedenbeck had suffered with ovarian cysts in the past and was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro in intense pain. She was put on morphine, meaning she could not nurse Rio.
She posted on the Facebook page for support group Breastfeeding Yummy Mummies: “I don’t suppose there is anyone who would come and nurse my son a couple of times today please?”
The first mother to come was Lee Ann Fearn, followed by Jo Statham, Michelle Netherton, Fiona Tupper - who breastfed Rio at the same time as feeding her own baby daughter - and Rachel Richardson.
Miss Wiedenbeck said: “When he was about to be fed by the first lady he looked over at me, almost to ask for approval. It filled my heart with such joy and massive relief. I thought it might feel unusual because it is something special that only Rio and I had shared, but it felt totally instinctive for another mum to help him in a way he was used to.”
Mrs Netherton, 28, a mother of three from Truro whose youngest child is 20 weeks, had never been a wet nurse but breastfed Rio in hospital the day after the appeal. She said: “When I saw the post I thought ‘poor baby’. I wanted to help because I would never see a baby go hungry.”
Two of the women even took Rio to their own homes to feed him, accompanied by one of Miss Wiedenbeck’s friends or family. Miss Wiedenbeck said she could not use formula for Rio or her own expressed milk which she stored in the freezer because he does not like using a bottle.
Miss Wiedenbeck, who also breastfed daughter Lily Eve, now six, is now back at home in Penzance and able to feed Rio herself again, while doctors are carrying out more tests. She said wet nursing “won’t be a daily occurrence now” but that she would be happy to nurse a friend’s baby at some point even just so the mother could “put up her feet and read a magazine”.
Breastfeeding Yummy Mummies, which has more than 13 000 members, says it “actively encourages continuation of breastfeeding and, as such, does not tolerate recommendations of introducing formula, early weaning etc.”
The World Health Organisation says breast milk from a healthy wet nurse is one of the best alternatives to direct breastfeeding.
Rosemary Dodds, of charity the National Childbirth Trust, said there is no danger if a baby misses out on breast milk for a short time but that “if mothers feel comfortable [with wet nursing] it’s their decision, and they shouldn’t be judged for their preferences”. She added that there is a low risk of health problems with wet nursing as long as the volunteer isn’t smoking, taking drugs or carrying infectious diseases.
Daily Mail