New Yorkers Sound Off On Photo Of Woman Breastfeeding Child Who Isn't Hers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A photo of a woman breastfeeding two children has shaken up social media and generated controversy.
As CBS2's Diane Macedo reported, intense reaction stems from the fact that one of the children in the photo is not the woman's.
A woman breastfeeding in the open at all can elicit some strong opinions.
"I think she should cover herself up," said Sara Pless on the Upper West Side.
"A woman should be able to breast-feed a child anywhere she wants to," said Ernest Rose of Harlem.
But Jessica Colletti's photo, showing her breastfeeding a baby that is not hers, is taking the discussion to another level.
Colletti, of Pennsylvania, shared the photo on Facebook, writing: "My son on the right is 16 months and my friend's son is 18 months. I watch her son while she works and have been feeding them both for a year! So much love between these milk siblings, it's a special bond between us all."
For many women, breastfeeding may be challenging -- especially when it's hard to pump at work. Charlie Interrante, the mother of the other child in the in the photo, explained on "Good Morning America" that that is what happened to her.
"I was at my wits end with it, and when she offered I was just nothing but thankful for it," Interrante said.
Many people who spoke to CBS2 spoke to applauded the effort.
"Mother's milk is very healthy, and it's a gift to share it," one person said.
"Why not?" said Stewie Markowitz of the Upper West Side. "He needs milk. What's wrong with that?"
"That's a help -- my goodness, people work. If someone can help you with that, great," said Jose Dabila of the Upper West Side.
Others weren't so comfortable with it.
"That's crazy – well, the photo's all right, but the principle of the fact that she's feeding some else's kid," said one man named George.
Amanda Benitez of Harlem said she would never breastfeed anyone else's child, and
I would never let anybody breastfeed mine."
Sara Pless of the Upper Wes Side said breastfeeding someone else's child was a bad idea for reasons of "hygiene, for one, and I don't think it's normal."
But lactation consultant Tamara Hawkins said the practice of sharing breast milk actually isn't new or uncommon.
"Throughout history, sisters, mothers, cousins have breastfed other babies -- whether they were family or not. It's just become recently – since, say, the 40s -- when the big formula the companies were telling family is your breast milk is not enough," said Hawkins, a family nurse practitioner. "NYU is a baby from the hospital now has a milk depot or milk bank and it's mostly for their premature babies."
But cross-nursing or wet-nursing also has its risks, Hawkins said.
"Concerns would be, what does this other mother have that I don't have that could possibly transmitted through the breastmilk?" she said.
Hawkins advises only to accept donated milk from very trusted friends or relatives, or milk banks that properly screen donors. She also warns that a mother should never purchase breast milk from another person.