Thorley Virginia
School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics, University of Queensland.
Breastfeed Rev. 2009 Mar;17(1):9-18.
While the concept of breastfeeding in contemporary Western culture is of a mother breastfeeding her own baby or babies, others have replaced the mother as provider of breastmilk, for a variety of reasons, through most periods of human existence. Existing policies for the sharing of this bodily fluid, milk, appear to have been written without the benefit of a detailed examination of the actual experiences of the mothers and babies involved. This study attempts to fill this information gap by investigating the sharing of breastfeeding or expressed breastmilk by Australian women in a recent thirty-year period, 1978-2008. The objective of this study was to explore the mothers' experiences of sharing breastfeeding or human milk including: the circumstances in which this bodily fluid was freely shared; what screening process, if any, was used before the milk of another mother was accepted; the mothers' feelings about the experience; the reported attitudes of others; and the children's behaviour when put to the breast of someone other than the mother. The underpinning reason for the sharing of breastfeeding or breastmilk was the desire of mothers to provide human milk to their babies, exclusively, including while they were absent or temporarily unable to breastfeed. Most mothers were selective about those with whom they would share breastfeeding or breastmilk.
在当代西方文化中，母乳喂养的概念是母亲亲自喂养自己的一个或多个婴儿，但在人类存在的大部分时期，出于各种原因，其他人取代了母亲成为母乳的提供者。现有的关于这种体液（乳汁）共享的政策，似乎是在没有详细考察相关母亲和婴儿实际经历的情况下制定的。本研究试图通过调查1978年至2008年这最近三十年里澳大利亚女性母乳喂养或挤出母乳的共享情况来填补这一信息空白。本研究的目的是探索母亲们共享母乳喂养或母乳的经历，包括：这种体液被自由共享的情况；在接受另一位母亲的乳汁之前是否采用了任何筛查程序；母亲们对这种经历的感受；其他人报告的态度；以及孩子在接受母亲之外的人喂奶时的行为。共享母乳喂养或母乳的根本原因是母亲们希望仅用母乳喂养自己的婴儿，包括在她们不在或暂时无法母乳喂养时。大多数母亲对与谁共享母乳喂养或母乳是有选择性的。
