Childcare worker accused of breastfeeding baby without the mum's permission

A mum is hoping to press charges after a childcare worker was allegedly caught on video breastfeeding her son without permission.

The mum from North Carolina claims to have recorded the video from security footage inside her three-month-old son’s nursery.

According to ABC7 the clip shows the worker adjusting her top before bringing the child to her chest to breastfeed him.

The mother, who also works at the nursery, explained that on Friday she was told her son was constipated and asked by another employee if she wanted her to breastfeed him to see if it would help.

Despite the mother declining the offer to breastfeed, she claims that moments after leaving the room, the other worker could be seen on video breastfeeding her son.

The daycare director of the facility involved in the incident told ABC11 that an employee had reported what happened and that the worker who reportedly did the breastfeeding was no longer working there.

But the mother whose son was allegedly breastfed would like to see the worker face criminal charges.

“To me, a criminal act was committed against him,” she told ABC11. “Not only did you put your breast to my son, you also made my son sick because he’s lactose [intolerant]. So you’ve put something in his body that his body can’t digest.”

Though local police have confirmed they were investigating the incident so far, no charges have been filed.

For those in the dark about it, wet nursing is when a woman breastfeeds someone else’s child because the mother is unable, or unwilling to breastfeed herself.

Though it might seem unusual, in fact the practice has been becoming more popular of late, with whole social media groups being set up to offer advice and support.

According to a survey conducted by parenting site Netmums, one in 25 British mums are already wet nursing a friend or relative’s baby, while two in five people admitted that the would consider breastfeeding a stranger’s tot.

The research quizzed two thousands mothers on the topic of breastfeeding and wet nursing and found that, of the women asked, one in seven believed that wet nursing was the next best thing after breastfeeding your own child.

Advocates of the practice claim there are many health benefits to wet nursing, but there are also some potential risks to take into consideration (some experts believe breastfeeding can spread infections such as hepatitis and HIV).

It’s not the first time the issue of breastfeeding consent has hit the headlines. Back in 2012 in a Dear Prudie column for Slate detailed a young mum asking for advice after walking in on her mother-in-law breastfeeding her newborn son. And in 2003 a woman was charged with allegedly breastfeeding someone else’s baby at a day care centre in the US.

Whether you’re all in favour of wet nursing or you really don’t think the practice is for you, finding out your baby has been breastfed without your express (pardon the pun) permission has got to be a difficult discovery for any mum to learn. The nursery worker in this particular example may have had the best of intentions for choosing to breastfeed someone else’s child, but doing so without the knowledge of the mother goes against what advocates of wet nursing are trying to promote. And besides, remember that scene in Hand That Rocks The Cradle? Exactly!

How would you feel if someone breastfeed your child without permission? Let us know @YahooStyleUK

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