Volunteers Breastfeed Baby Whose Mum Died

Volunteers Breastfeed Baby Whose Mum Died

A baby from Michigan, USA, is being breast-fed by dozens of different women after his mother died shortly after giving birth.

Charles Moses Martin Goodrich is now 10 and a half months old. His dad Robbie apparently has a list of mums who help him out by breastfeeding the boy.

The story has attracted a lot of attention with Mr Goodrich appearing in People magazine and in a documentary being made by supermodel Christy Turlington.

Mr Goodrich, 44, a university professor, told the National Post: "Some people think this is just about food. I think there's so much more. It's the nurturing aspect.

"He's held by mothers. He is held as much as any breast-fed child. He's nuzzled up to a mum who's stroking him, who's cooing with him, who's talking with him, whose voice he recognizes and knows."

His wife Susan fell into a coma soon after Moses was born and died of an amniotic fluid embolism.

At first Mr Goodrich asked the hospital if breast milk was available to feed the baby as some hospitals have milk banks.

But he was told it could be brought in from a milk bank more than 700 km away, would take two days and cost $5 an ounce.

Then a family friend offered to feed the baby instead. Mr Goodrich put the word out to see if other women would help too and by the next day friends were organising a rota.

There has been a lot of criticism from commentators who have questioned whether this arrangement is safe or necessary.

However Mr Goodrich says there is nothing wrong with the system. "In a society like ours, of course a certain percentage is going to sexualize anything to do with the breast," he told the National Post. "That's their choice."

Years ago, of course, this sort of thing was common practice with many women using wet nurses to feed their babies.

What do you think? Is this a good arrangement or do you see anything wrong with it?

Source: The National Post

Source: ParentDish

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