Can babies drink other people’s breast milk?

Under normal circumstances, mothers will breastfeed their babies, but in reality, women’s breast milk may have various problems, such as severe lack of milk. In addition, postpartum women may suffer from certain diseases and be told by doctors that they cannot breastfeed. If these situations occur, the baby will not be able to eat milk normally. At this time, many people will choose to let the baby eat other people’s breast milk. Is this practice acceptable?

Can babies drink other people’s breast milk?

If you don’t have breast milk after your baby is born, would you be willing to let another mother feed your baby? Of course, I don't want to do this, but I once asked a close friend, and her answer surprised me: "Since I don't have breast milk, it's not bad to drink my friend's breast milk! After all, breast milk is much healthier than formula!"

However, I believe that more people have the same idea and are unwilling to let their children drink other people's breast milk. Similarly, mothers are unwilling to give their breast milk to other children. The reasons are mainly the following two points:

1. Children will be close to others. There is an old saying that "children will be close to whoever feeds them". Although there is no factual basis for this, if you often see the protagonists on TV having a special relationship with their wet nurses, you will know that breastfeeding is a very intimate act and it will indeed bring people closer together. Therefore, it is best to let your child drink his own milk. Even if the milk is not enough, you can supplement it with milk powder.

2. It is unsafe. The most worrying issue when letting your baby drink someone else’s milk is that it is unsafe. After all, you can’t tell from the outside whether the other person has any health problems or the quality of their milk. If something happens to the child after drinking it, it will be too late to regret. For example, AIDS can be transmitted through breast milk, so it is better to be careful. Although many people do not accept babies drinking other people's breast milk, in some special circumstances, they can still drink other people's milk. For example, if the baby is born prematurely and the mother does not have breast milk when the baby is discharged from the hospital, and there is a relative in the family who is breastfeeding, the baby can drink milk from others. After all, relatives know each other well, and the nutritional value of breast milk is much higher than that of cow's milk. In addition, if you feel a little uncomfortable with breastfeeding, you can also let the surrogate mother squeeze the milk into a container and feed the baby directly.

Why is there no milk? In fact, under normal circumstances, a mother can breastfeed after giving birth. Although the amount of milk is not much, it will increase as the baby sucks more often. However, there are often some mothers around us who have insufficient or even no milk. Why is this?

Reason 1: Inverted breasts due to the mother’s own reasons: The mother’s nipples are inverted and the baby cannot suck milk. Mental factors: A poor mental state of the mother can also affect milk secretion. This is because nervous system disorders can affect the function of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, thereby inhibiting the secretion of prolactin. Malnutrition: If the mother is malnourished, milk secretion will also be affected.

Reason 2: The delivery method is too painful or the vagina is torn, which leads to sympathetic nerve excitement and releases too much catecholamines, which can inhibit the secretion of oxytocin and reduce milk.

Reason three: The first breastfeeding time is too late. The secretion of milk is closely related to the sucking time. Early sucking can make the pituitary gland secrete prolactin. However, if a woman does not suckle her baby in time after giving birth, the amount of milk secretion will also decrease.

Reason 4: Feeding posture. Lack of correct feeding techniques will also affect the secretion of breast milk. For example, incorrect posture will prevent the baby from fully sucking milk, affecting the secretion of milk. Reason 5: Drug factors Some drugs can also inhibit milk secretion, such as dopamine and pyridoxine drugs.