Lacey Dangerstone has breastfed 14 babies. Only two have been her own.
The former nanny from Texas gave birth to her first child, Luna, in 2012. Four months later, she fed her sister’s friend’s baby. The baby was nine months old and the parents were away for the weekend.
Dangerstone says she talked about it with her sister and her friend, and they were thrilled.
“I started work helping mothers go back to work or babysitting and feeding their baby for them,” she says. “The whole experience was the baby breastfeeding, being cuddled and loved. I have never had a baby not latch or reject me.”
She says she’s never expected women to pay extra for the breastfeeding. <link rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” media=”all” href=”http://scripts.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2194/rc-main–.css” />
“If I am babysitting I might get paid, but I never charge for wet nursing a baby.”
Lacey Dangerstone. Photo via Facebook.In 2014, Dangerstone got pregnant again. She kept up the wet nursing through the pregnancy and after her baby Vega was born.
"I might be with one or two other mothers and we'll have babies we are wet nursing. If one of us is busy, the other will take the baby that needs nursing."
Dangerstone admits that while some of her friends have been supportive of what she does, others thought it was "disgusting". That's why she's trying to educate people about wet nursing.
"Now I'm establishing a global network of mothers in the UK, Australia, Europe, Canada and the US who can set up wet nursing groups in their communities," she says.
Dangerstone and daughter Vega. Photo via Facebook.One of the reasons Dangerstone finds wet nursing so natural is that she went through the experience herself as a baby.
"My mum had to go back to work and hired a babysitter who was breastfeeding her own baby and said if she wanted to feed me to give it a go.
"It was never taboo for me."
She says she will always help out where she can as a wet nurse.
"I cannot imagine having to force my children to wean and I don't want any other mother to feel under pressure to do that."
How would you feel about another woman breastfeeding your child?