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Two Dozen Women Gather to Nurse Other Mom’s Baby
Moses Goodrich’s birth was a mixture of joy and relief.
Shortly after Moses was born, his mother died of an amniotic fluid embolism, leaving his father Robbie to figure out how to raise him alone. His first challenge would be feeding the boy. Susan Goodrich had planned to breastfeed.
After her sudden death, however, Robbie scrambled to go ahead as planned. He had nurses order $50o worth of breastmilk from the area breastmilk bank. For the two days it took for the breastmilk to arrive, Moses had formula.
Then Robbie got a call that would dramatically alter his newborn son’s first six months of life.
Laura Janowski, a family friend, sheepishly offered to nurse Moses. She worried she would offend Robbie with her offer. But not in the least. He took her up on it.
Janowski eventually organized a group of two dozen lactating moms, who eventually set up a schedule to provide Moses with pumped breastmilk or meals straight from the source.
During Moses’s first six weeks of life, there was almost always a nursing mom in Robbie’s house. What had been a seven-days-a-week thing, eventually whittled down to five. There are no plans yet to stop.
Our resident Michigan Amy Kuras tells me the people in the Upper Penninsula of her state, which is where Robbie Goodrich lives, are a different breed and that something like this isn’t so much out of their character. I think it’s great that a community came together to help out a family in need. It’s not just the breastmilk — or the breastfeeding — it’s that Robbie Goodrich wasn’t left to suffer this tragedy alone.
More moms and dads deserve this kind of support — whether in the form of milk or childcare assistance or hot meals or whatever.
If there were a motherless newborn in your town, would you offer to nurse?
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9 Comments
[...] Two Dozen Women Gather to Nurse Other Mom’s Baby [...]
Breastfeeding Moms Pose for Calendar | Strollerderby commented on Jul 29 09 at 2:01 pmbeep commented on Jul 27 09 at 3:05 pmof course i would. what a lovely thing to do.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Jul 27 09 at 4:21 pmI absolutely would.
GGsmama commented on Jul 27 09 at 8:36 pmAbsolutely, without reservation. What a kind community.
Giant Panda commented on Jul 27 09 at 11:27 pmIn a heartbeat!! I have plenty of milk and my newborn son is not drinking it all. A friend also gave birth recently and is having trouble nursing her daughter, so I am thinking about offering her some pumped milk. I was worried this might offend her, but after reading this story I think I will make the offer anyway.
Rachael commented on Jul 28 09 at 6:24 pmYes. In fact, I have often wished that I could be a wet nurse. There’s nothing skeezy motivating me, just a desire to be lazy, do something I think is good, maybe make some money, and eat more. Sounds like a WIN to me.
patricia commented on Jul 28 09 at 7:33 pmLOL, Rachael! And I agree with you and the others- I absolutely would.
PlumbLucky commented on Jul 30 09 at 10:37 amCompletely. My sisters and I joke that there must have been a wet nurse somewhere in the family tree, actually.
Amy commented on Feb 04 10 at 11:18 amComments
Yes. I have donated milk and would have no problems with nursing a baby that wasn’t mine. I have allowed one of my children to be nursed by someone else and don’t see a problem with it.
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