A grandma who breastfed her grandchildren without permission has revealed how a close friend called her a cruel name when she found out. The nan has explained why she still doesn’t regret it
Breastfeeding children that aren’t yours will always spark a debate, but before the introduction of the feeding bottle in the 19th century it wasn’t such a taboo topic.
Back then rich mothers used ‘wet nurses’ to feed their babies and poorer mothers happily shared the task between themselves. But fast forward to today and many people think it’s weird to breastfeed someone else’s child.
Jane McNeice, 49, even lost a previously close friend after talking about breastfeeding not just one, but two of her grandchildren, and providing expressed milk for a third.
She said that that people may see her as ‘controversial’ or even ‘odd’ but that her partner and family support her. And she also added how she’s not the only one to feed her grandchildren her breast milk.
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“Last month Penny Lancaster, now 54, revealed she donated her breast milk to granddaughter Delilah in 2011 after the baby’s mother – Penny’s stepdaughter Kimberley, just eight years younger – wasn’t producing enough milk,” Jane told The Daily Mail.
Penny, who had given birth to her own son Aidan, now 14, just six months earlier, explained: “It was a real motherhood bonding moment. I remember thinking, ‘What’s the most important thing for this child?’ I knew my milk would give her the nutrients and antibodies she needed.”
Jane describes how after her granddaughter Evie was born in 2012, her daughter Laura struggled to breastfeed, so she began helping with formula feeds. Then when Evie was seven months, Jane discovered she was pregnant and gave birth to Oliver.
“One day I’d taken my expressed breast milk and put it in a bottle for Oliver. Seeing his disinterest, I put it on the floor, only to realise Evie, then 19 months, had grabbed it without me noticing and started drinking it. Some people may have reacted with dismay, but I knew it wouldn’t do her any harm, and when Laura came home and I told her what had happened we both just laughed.
“As far as we were concerned, Evie drinking my breast milk wasn’t weird at all. In fact, we agreed it was good she would experience the health benefits of my milk. When I had some milk spare, it seemed a shame for it to go to waste.”
Jane stopped breastfeeding Oliver when he was 11 months, but gave birth to her second son Ben in 2016 – nine months after her second granddaughter, Bella was born.
One day when she was watching the grandchildren and had just finished feeding her four-month-old son she realised Bella was hungry so breastfed her too without asking Laura if it was OK.
When she did explain to Laura what had happened it didn’t bother her in the slightest. She then went on to breastfeed Bella and her sister Violet a few more times when she was looking after them. At one point she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old son, 15-month-old granddaughter and one-month-old sister.
While Laura and her mum joked about what other people would think when Jane confided in a friend she was surprised by her extreme reaction.
Her friend said ‘That’s disgusting’ on hearing about what happened and sadly their friendship never recovered. Jane wasn’t ashamed but after that decided not to tell anyone else.
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