Breast Milk on TV

[Xina]

Have you ever noticed that in most sit coms breast milk being ingested by anyone other than a baby is looked at as disgusting?

I have a vague memory in my head of a woman having pumped her milk and left it in the fridge and the man puts it on his cereal. When he finds out what it is he spits it out.

It just seems a little strange to me that people will find that which they are supposed to naturally drink to be disgusting, but taking breast milk from another animal is perfectly acceptable.

Just my strange thought for the day.

Of course now that I think about it everyone else probably knows that already. It definitely gives me food for thought about not giving my kids milk after weening though.

(forgive me if this is the wrong forum for this, it was just a random thought and it was reading things here that made me think of it.)

[SheThrowsDown]

I've definitely noticed this. When I was BFing my son I actually used some of my own milk to make cupcakes - and I'll have you know that everyone who tried them (they knew what they were made with) said that they had never had cupcakes that tasted so good. Almost all women I know who lactate have tasted their own milk - and so far I've only met ONE who said it was nasty tasting lol

[Nessus]

Have you ever noticed that in most sit coms breast milk being ingested by anyone other than a baby is looked at as disgusting?

Yup.


I have a vague memory in my head of a woman having pumped her milk and left it in the fridge and the man puts it on his cereal. When he finds out what it is he spits it out.

Not 100% sure, but I think that's from Look Who's Talking.

edit:I just checked. In Look Who's Talking it was coffee not cereal.


It just seems a little strange to me that people will find that which they are supposed to naturally drink to be disgusting, but taking breast milk from another animal is perfectly acceptable.
Yeah, but just try pointing that out to omnis. I double dog dare yah. They'll think yer completely bonkers.

[rabid_child]

I'm very pro-breastfeeding, but for health and sanitation purposes, I would be upset to accidentally drink someone else's breastmilk. I'm pretty sure, however, I'd have to give my own a try when I have kids :P I seemed to like it when I was a baby.

[zoebird]

it's not really that big of a deal for health/sanitation reasons if you consume someone else's breastmilk as long as they are healthy, non-drug/drinkin' folks. random person's breast milk? no. but, healthy, normal person? sure.

i haven't tried my own. i don't know why. and, i'm bothered to have non-babies asking for it (eg, my husband). it's FOR the baby. we're possessive of it. when i gave my milk away to another baby, it was a weird/powerful moment for me.

but that might be because of that first harrowing week of learning to nurse. LIQUID GOLD i tell you! LOL the thought of someone just using my milk for coffee or cereal is just shocking! but, i suppose anyone drinking it for nutritional purposes would be fine.

for example, if my husband couldn't eat a solid food diet, i might provide him with breastmilk in addition to the formulas that they give such folks (like ensure).

[coley]

We were having this conversation over dinner one night with my in laws (they are very very pro-breastfeeding). My father in law told me that occasionally young women in China breastfeed the elderly in their family when they don't have teeth and are unwell. I think the reason we never see much is the stigma we have in the modern world about breasts providing milk, as opposed to just being seen as sexual objects. That being said it is hard enough feeding your own baby let alone a tribe!

[Sevenseas]

It just seems a little strange to me that people will find that which they are supposed to naturally drink to be disgusting, but taking breast milk from another animal is perfectly acceptable.I think that's a good point.

[paganveg]

I think it's all about conditioning. We're conditioned from babies to believe that breastmilk from cows (or goats or sheep)is perfectly normal. We are also taught that women's breasts are sexual objects used for pleasure. Kind of like a penis.
No wonder so many people think what comes out of women's breasts is gross.

We live in a messed up world! ;)

[zoebird]

i do also agree with seven seas.

but i was intregued by that restaurant in europe that served food made with breastmilk, and i actually think that breastmilk is better than other milk, and i don't really take issue with other milk (that is, consuming it. i do take issue with industrial aspects).

[Envy]

Because breasts are used for sex also.

[AussieShane]

yea i think you all summed it up pretty well.
from what i know, Breast milk is the Best milk.

[VegPrincess]

yea i think you all summed it up pretty well.
from what i know, Breast milk is the Best milk.

lol, now I feel like I missed out on something because I didn't get breastfed. My mom wanted to but the doctor told her her milk was not good/didn't have the proper nutrients..

And I also think it's strange to be more disgusted by milk from your own species than by milk from another one.:think:

[zoebird]

i feel sorry for your mom. such a lie that doctor told. my mom didn't breastfeed us because it was hard at first and she just wasn't able to get through it. so she started on formula and away she went.

[Xina]

Both my brothers were formula fed, I am the only one that was breast fed. Back in the 70s (and now for all I know) doctors pushed formula because they were paid to by the formula companies. Sad, but true.

[Bells]

Drinking breast milk doesn't have a negative connotation with it everywhere. I read this here (http://www.austinmama.com/breastmilkcannibal.htm):


In China recently, media reports revealed that a local restaurant was serving dishes made with human breast milk. They paid six peasant women for their breast milk, and used it in fish dishes. The restaurant planned a banquet with 108 items containing breast milk. The banquet ended when local residents protested that milk needed for babies was being used this way.

Cancer patients are often fed human breast milk to help build their immune systems after chemotherapy. Human milk banks provide the pasteurized milk. Somewhere moms are pumping and storing milk for other adults to drink.


I personally would not drink breast milk. I might taste my own, should I ever choose to have children, but drinking another human's bodily fluids... wouldn't boat too well with me.



i haven't tried my own. i don't know why. and, i'm bothered to have non-babies asking for it (eg, my husband). it's FOR the baby. we're possessive of it. when i gave my milk away to another baby, it was a weird/powerful moment for me.

That's interesting. :) Weird/powerful because you could help another baby or weird/powerful because you were possessive of the milk for your own baby?

[pandora9kry]

This is slightly off-topic, but we had my co-worker's baby shower last night and while I was holding her 5-week old son, I (without realizing it, never having breast-fed) put him in the feeding position. And my boss goes, "um, you might want to move his arm so it's between you or he's going to think it's dinner time!"

It was pretty funny. Um, I'd probably never drink another person's breast milk. Obviously I drank my Mom's, but I wouldn't now. I'll definitely sample my own when I have children, though.

[delicious]

I think people are grossed out by breast milk because it is a body fluid. What they don't think about is the fact that cow's milk is also a body fluid.

[aiyana4969]

My family has issues with my breastfeeding, even covered, it's really weird. the only ones OK with it are my brothers... I've never seen teenage boys so comfortable with such a thing in my life, I'm forever proud of them for not averting eye contact when speaking with me or getting embarrased or giggly. My mom won't even look at me while I'm BF'ing.

I was Formula fed. Mom said her doc only asked what type of formula she wanted and gave her WIC info. It's sad.

My Hubby tells the baby's that the "girls" are on loan untill they wean. Yes they are looked at in our society as a sexual object, but they should still be recognized as a food source for babies.

There's always so much drama surrounding the topic of breast feeding.

[Photojess]

I can say that my ex tried mine when I BF'd my daughter, and he liked it....although I never tried it myself.

[Tora-Oni]

I think it's all about conditioning. We're conditioned from babies to believe that breastmilk from cows (or goats or sheep)is perfectly normal. We are also taught that women's breasts are sexual objects used for pleasure. Kind of like a penis.
No wonder so many people think what comes out of women's breasts is gross.

We live in a messed up world! ;)

I say I probably have to agree with that, besides If I drank someone's breast milk I almost feel like I'm stealing, which I should feel that way when I drink another animals milk but for some reason when it comes in a plastic jug it distances itself from the image of the utters. Believe me, there is a kid song that had a little hand motion where two people/kids would imitate milking a cow, where one kid had to put their fingers crossing each other like when people crack their hands by having their palms face outwards with their fingers touching the back of the other hand, but the thumbs are sticking out so they are vertical as the rest is horizontal and the other person merely pulls the thumbs in a milking like manner, most people who see me and my best friend think its a sexual gesture or when I try to get other people to do it so they can see what the songs about they find it a little too much. Which I have no intentions to overstep those boundaries into sexual harassment so I dare not to do that outside of my group of friends. Even though the gesture is really innocent in my opinion, but due to the fact the hands are generally held in front of the chest most people kinda see a different gesture. Funny thing is its a Girl Scout song I learned in FCCLA.

[Tora-Oni]

My family has issues with my breastfeeding, even covered, it's really weird. the only ones OK with it are my brothers... I've never seen teenage boys so comfortable with such a thing in my life, I'm forever proud of them for not averting eye contact when speaking with me or getting embarrased or giggly. My mom won't even look at me while I'm BF'ing.

I was Formula fed. Mom said her doc only asked what type of formula she wanted and gave her WIC info. It's sad.

My Hubby tells the baby's that the "girls" are on loan untill they wean. Yes they are looked at in our society as a sexual object, but they should still be recognized as a food source for babies.

There's always so much drama surrounding the topic of breast feeding.

That is pretty funny, when I was a kid I didn't avert my eyes but probably worse since I stared. Not to make my sister in-laws feel awkward since I think my first niece came when I was 3 and I think after seeing 11 kids being breast feed, I've seen about 5 different women breast feeding only 4 of them I can recall. Both my brothers first wives didn't work out and both of them got married again and made some more kids. I don't think I have problem with breast feeding, or breast milk though Our family kinda is indifferent about it, though we usually allow the mom to breast feed her kid in privacy and avoid bothering her. Its more seen a respecting the mom's privacy rather than the taboo. My nephew does avoid his step mom when she breast feeds Roseanna.

[LongLashedVeg]

I don't drink any animal milk, human included... I would probably try my own but never would I be interested in drinking another woman's. Blech!

[zoebird]

Weird/powerful because you could help another baby or weird/powerful because you were possessive of the milk for your own baby?

for both reasons.

i was so pleased to be able to help that baby and give her our good stuff (and, a lot of the milk bank was from his first few weeks, so it was "formulated" by my body for a baby her age!). but, hawk was also VERY possessive of the milk.

i remember this one afternoon, i was sitting with mom and jamie and they were trying to nurse. i was nursing hawk, and pumping the other breast to get about 2-3 oz of milk out during that feeding. hawk was watching me pump, and then watched that milk go from pump to jamie (it used a bottle to catch, you just attach the nipple to the bottle), and looked at me like "WTF are you doing? i thought we had an exclusivity contract!"

it was a really interesting moment for us, but while jamie was eating (my milk), he held her hand. i suppose it was his way of getting the milk too, or giving it too.

for me, it's a powerful bond to give another woman/baby your milk. i feel especially connected to jamie and her parents because of this process. it was really powerful for me.

in india, they say "the cow is your mother." this is why cows are revered. the milk is sustainence, and mothers give this milk. to sustain another with such love and devotion is a great thing.

i can't explain it.

but i understand why cows are truly sacred in india. milk is sacred.

[Colls]

I think this is very interesting. I am currently bfing my 6 month old, and recall a conversation I had with my sister a few months ago. I remember hearing a story about two friends who were both bfing. One of the friend's husband was in the hospital, and when she would visit her husband, her friend babysat/bf her child. I was telling my sister the story, because I thought it was such a wonderful thing, and my sister (who I am extremely close to) turned to me and said, "I wouldn't bf your children." I was so shocked, because my sister and I are so close, and I know she would do anything for me or my kids. I would bf her kids in a second! I think that some people who have not experienced bfing (my sister formula fed her kids), have no idea how wonderful and natural it truly is. My sister even worries (when she is holding my little one) about getting "boobie juice" spit up on her... because that is so much worse than formula spit up??:confused: I find that the reaction to "mommy milk" is so varied.

Although, I have also been surprised at how many people I come across who could care less if I bf my child in front of them. Some even ask why I cover up! My husband's grandmother likes to sneek-a-peek, under my bfing wrap, when I'm feeding my little one!

I've yet to have someone ask for a sample!

[zoebird]

it truly was one of those things that i didn't understand the power of until i experienced it.

i knew the value of breastmilk and breastfeeding, but i didn't realize the power of it until it was here.