In general, the salary range for a wet nurse can fall anywhere between $25,000 and $85,000 per year.
Certified Household Staffing reports an increase in requests for wet nurses, despite a price tag that starts at a $1,000 a week.
A woman can only act as a wet nurse if she is lactating (producing milk). It was once believed that a wet nurse must have recently undergone childbirth in order to lactate. This is not necessarily the case, as regular breast stimulation can elicit lactation via a neural reflex of prolactin production and secretion.
Normally, without suckling, milk production ceases 14 to 21 days after birth. PRL- mediated milk production and secretion, however, may continue as long as the breasts are stimulated, as evidenced by the ability of wet-nursing for many years (16).
Yes, it's possible to lactate if you're not pregnant. Inducing lactation is a complex process that usually involves using hormone-mimicking drugs for several months to produce milk. The second part of lactation is expressing the milk through your nipple.
Generally speaking, breastfeeding your husband or partner is OK. It's not perverted or wrong if you want the person you are intimate with to breastfeed, or if they ask to try breastfeeding or taste your breast milk.
Most mothers refused to let a wet nurse's baby live in their home, so women seeking the position were forced to turn their infants over to caretakers who would feed them the same inadequate artificial food their employers were going to great lengths to avoid.
Men don't normally produce milk. In fact, very few male mammals lactate spontaneously. There are references in literature to men lactating, and a widely circulated story of a Sri Lankan man who breastfed his baby girl after his wife died.
Are There Any Dangers of Wet Nursing? Wet nursing also has some drawbacks that should be considered. A mother who is wet nursing another baby might risk interruption of breast milk for her own child. Infections are a potential possibility for both the mother and the baby.
Among them was a South American man, observed by Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who subbed as wet nurse after his wife fell ill as well as male missionaries in Brazil that were the sole milk supply for their children because their wives had shriveled breasts.
Nutrition experts say breast milk of grandmothers is recommended for babies who cannot be breastfed by their biological mothers for whatever reason, noting that contrary to assumptions, women who are over 60 years can still produce breast milk and effectively breastfeed infants.
This is called idiopathic galactorrhea, and it may just mean that your breast tissue is particularly sensitive to the milk-producing hormone prolactin in your blood. If you have increased sensitivity to prolactin, even normal prolactin levels can lead to galactorrhea.
“Wet nurses still exist but not many people talk about it and when it does happen, it's much less of a paid position like it was centuries ago,” Gourley says. Today, wet nursing (or cross nursing, as it's more commonly called) is a much more casual affair.
Potential Risks
The wet-nursing mom may have problems with the let-down reflex. There is always the potential for infection (in the woman or baby). There may be an interruption of the breast milk supply for the mother's own baby.
It may also help some women to improve their milk supply or lead to a longer period of breastfeeding in premature infants, according to Rady Children's Hospital. Along with the benefits for your baby and milk flow, non-nutritive nursing can also help you to relax and bond with your little one.
Because wet nursing was considered a highly desirable job, wet nurses were common in England through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many of the wet nurses were mothers themselves and because of the high demand for their services, they often earned more money than common laborers did.
Pumping or expressing milk frequently between nursing sessions, and consistently when you're away from your baby, can help build your milk supply. Relax and massage. Relax, hold your baby skin-to-skin, and massage your breasts before feeding to encourage your milk to let down.
Chestfeeding is feeding your baby with milk from your chest. If you're able to chestfeed, it's your decision whether you do and you can change your mind at any time. You will be fully supported in any decisions you make.
Milk, then, symbolises abundance, nourishment, and motherhood, because of its properties as a food for very small children before they can 'eat' anything else.
In Western Europe, wealthy and noble families often employed wet nurses because breastfeeding was inconvenient and women could regain their fertility (Fildes, 1986). Unlike the rich, poor families could not afford the services of a wet nurse and breastfed their infants themselves (Fildes, 1988).
The introduction of infant formula, the greater availability of animal milk, and the development of the feeding bottle reduced the need for wet nurses throughout the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century.
For example, a wet nurse would feed and care for another womans child, in exchange for payment.