‘My 50yr old mum breastfeeds my daughter’
When Julia Cannon, 21, is exhausted after yet another night feed, she’s happy for her mum to take over…
Mum-of-one Julia Cannon, 21, hadn’t showered for four days due to her newborn baby’s relentless feeding schedule. So when her mum offered to step in, she immediately accepted.
Julia’s mum, Angela Owens, 50, had started to lactate when her granddaughter was just four days old. While it’s not common for a woman to lactate when she hasn’t recently given birth, experts say it is possible.
Now, both Julia and Angela breastfeed little Naomi, who is 10 months old.
Julia says, “When Mum started to produce milk, neither of us could believe it. We weren’t sure if Naomi would feed from her, but she latched on immediately. It’s been a huge help and gives me time to sleep or grab something to eat. And I love the bond the two of them have developed.
“People think it’s weird, but it’s no different to wet nursing, which women have done for centuries. As long as Mum can, she’ll co-feed with me.”
Mum-of-five Angela, 50, stopped breastfeeding her own children when her youngest daughter turned three. She then continued to express and donate milk until 2014. Even after she stopped expressing, she’d occasionally produce small amounts of milk.
A SPECIAL ACT
Julia, who lives with her partner Anthony, 23, explains, “Mum breastfed all of us, so I knew that I’d want to as well. Naomi was born in April 2018, and when she came home from hospital, Mum stayed with us. One afternoon, Naomi started to cry and we both noticed that Mum’s shirt was wet. At the time, we just thought it was funny. Mum is passionate about breastfeeding, so it was typical that she’d start to lactate for her granddaughter!”
Despite Angela offering to breastfeed Naomi, Julia initially refused.
She says, “I didn’t want Mum to get involved in feeding. I thought it was a special act between mother and baby.
“But when Naomi was four months old, she started cluster feeding – she’d want milk almost constantly. I didn’t have time to sleep, eat, or even wash and I was miserable.
“Mum came over one afternoon so I grabbed five minutes to shower, but Naomi started screaming. I could hear Mum trying to soothe her, but it was no use, so when she suggested she breastfeed her, I thought it was worth a try.
“Naomi latched on and when I came out of the bathroom and saw the two of them together, it was just magical.
EMPOWERING
“I’m so close to Mum and obviously I adore my daughter, so to see them together was just incredible. It was empowering, too, it made me appreciate how powerful a woman’s body is.
“I was so amazed that I took a picture of them and posted it to a pro-breastfeeding group on Facebook.”
Julia’s picture quickly went viral, but not everyone was so accepting.
Julia says, “My partner is completely fine with it, as long as his daughter is healthy and happy, and my friends think it’s great too – but we’ve had some negative comments online. People say
it’s gross and unnatural, and a woman once came up to me in the street to tell me how weird she thought we were.
“I really don’t care about other people’s opinions, but Mum is more anxious – she won’t breastfeed Naomi in public as she thinks people will stare, especially as she’s older.”
But Angela will regularly breastfeed her granddaughter at home. Julia, from Missouri, USA, says, “I’ve gone back to my job caring for the elderly, so when Mum babysits, she’ll often feed Naomi. The more she feeds her, the more she lactates.”
NATURAL
She adds, “Mum visits most days, so if I’m cooking or using the bathroom and Naomi cries, she’ll step in. Mum’s even inspired me to offer up my own milk to other babies. My best friend has a seven-month-old who I sometimes breastfeed.”
And Julia has no plans to stop breastfeeding any time soon.
She says, “I’ll continue to breastfeed Naomi until she’s at least two or three, and as long as Mum can, she will too.
“Looking after a newborn is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do – I feel lucky that I have Mum by my side to help me.”
Angela says, “Being able to feed Naomi has been such a treat. It makes me feel so connected to her and I think it’ll mean we stay close as she gets older. I know how hard looking after a newborn can be, so I’m glad I can help out Julia, too.”
While spontaneous lactation can be a sign of an underlying disorder, Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical director of Patient. info, explains that there are cases of women being able to breastfeed when they haven’t given birth.
She says, “Some women who have adopted a baby are able to stimulate their nipples in order to breastfeed. In Angela’s case, she breastfed for such a long time, and it seems her supply never really dried up. It’s likely that she was still producing some milk and, once she tried to feed Naomi, it stimulated her nipples to produce more milk again.”
❛ I LOVE THE BOND THE TWO OF THEM HAVE DEVELOPED ❜