Would you ever nurse someone else’s baby? What if the life of that child rested on your decision? Maria Kristensen, a 25-year-old mom-to-be from Denmark was faced with this decision recently when she, her husband and three-year-old son Lucas were on their way to the airport in Turkey.
When Maria and her family set out that day, they probably had very few thoughts on their minds other than returning to their Denmark home safely. But as their taxi cab drove down the street, something stood out that they just couldn’t ignore.
“We sat in a taxi when we looked out on something [to the] right,” Maria said. “There was a pink little bundle up in a bag right outside of the road where the sun only shone down. She lay and baked.”
The family asked the cab driver to turn around so they could investigate the bundle further.
“We were very nervous to go out of the car,” Maria recalled. “Was the life of the child? It was over 40 degrees [Celsius], and the bundle lying in the sun.”
Yet despite their fear, the couple approached the little bundle lying in the street. When they reached it, they found a very small newborn girl. Her head was still bloody and the umbilical cord looked as though it had just recently been cut. Maria, a social worker by profession, believes that the little girl had to be only about a day old.
“The mother had packed her into pink clothes and put a blanket around her,” Maria said. “She was really hot, so I hurried to get her in the car and asked the driver to [turn] on the air conditioner. But there was no life in her.”
Maria’s husband Kent brought some cold water and tried to cool the baby down that way, but she still wasn’t responding. Suddenly, Maria had an idea. At 31 weeks pregnant, she was already lactating. After asking the cab driver if she could nurse the infant (due to cultural rules against nursing in public), Maria attempted to nurse the little girl.
“It took a while, but after a while, the little girl began to drink,” Maria said. “After she got into the industry, she revived. There was life in her eyes. She looked around and we thought ‘in the world.’ She was still bloody, and paper [was] on the umbilical cord. It’s probably a mother who has been powerless and did their best.”
For some, the idea of nursing someone else’s child may seem strange, but Maria says it felt completely natural to her. What was difficult for her was when the little girl had to be taken into child protective custody.
“In fact, I took it pretty well until I had to give her away,” Maria said. “It did not feel good at all to give her away. She woke up and looked the more [in] my eyes, and now I have gray ago.”
The little girl will be adopted out and has been named Ceren. Maria has been able to talk to the authorities about little Ceren’s progress and has been told that she can come by and visit at any time.
At first, it may not have occurred to Maria that she saved the little girl’s life. But now home in Denmark, she’s started to realize just how vital her ability to nurse may have been in keeping Ceren alive.
We often forget just how our decisions can impact the life around us. I’m completely amazed at how quickly and lovingly Maria reacted towards a child that needed her, despite the fact that the child had been born to another woman from another country. Hopefully, this little girl finds a permanent home that can give her just that kind of love – thoughtful, instinctive and loving beyond condition.
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One thing people forget, bottles haven’t been around forever, let alone formula. What did women do before bottles? Why is it looked on so horrible now days to breastfeed babies, not to mention breastfeed someone elses child. It’s called a Wet Nurse. Women have done it for centuries. Queens and other royalty had wet nurses for their own children if they chose not to Breastfeed themselves. I’ve breastfed my nephews and an adopted niece. My sister has also breasted our adopted niece. It’s a beautiful experience. I would have done the same as Maria in a heart beat.
I would absolutely do it but I absolutely would ask. I’d have no desire to be handcuffed and separated from my husband, three-year-old and doom my unborn child to a life of hell. Thanks for bringing to light Turkey’s rule against public breastfeeding – somewhere to strike off my itinerary. Wonderful story, rotten translation.
Please don’t believe what you read about a law against breastfeeding in public in Turkey. I was an expat in Turkey for 4.5 years and breastfed my son for 2 years in public. In parks, in taxis, in malls, on benches along the street. There is definitely NOT a ban on public breastfeeding! Turkey is a wonderful country where kids are adored. Don’t strike it off your list!
I visited Turkey when my daughter was four weeks old. I don’t remember if I breast-fed in public, but I do remember that the men in the marketplaces were all absolutely crazy about her! They were so kind and loving and interested, way more then in the countries we visited after that. (Perhaps it was because she had red hair, which made her a bit of a celebrity.) It seemed like a country that really values its children.
They were still in turkey, not denmark, that’s why she wasn’t allowed to breastfeed in public.
I would absolutely nurse that baby. And I think it was in Turkey, Brandi, not Denmark. The woman was from Denmark. I have no issues with wetnursing, milk sharing or breastfeeding and to me, you do whatever you can to take care of a baby and keep him or her safe.
They were in the taxi to the airport in Turkey on their way back home to Denmark. Not that it’s OK to be banned from nursing in Turkey either!
Like others have said, I would do the same in a heartbeat and just be glad that I had milk and could do this. A really uplifting story that shows underneath all the complications and nonsense of modern society, we are all still human.
I lived in Turkey for a number of years and breastfed my son in public there regularly. My husband is Turkish and my Turkish sisters in law all breastfed their children in public. I would say that breastfeeding is much more common and considered the norm in Turkey, far more than it is here in the UK.
Just to clarify the above comment, the mother is from Denmark, they were in Turkey.
This is a beautiful story and no doubt I was also nurse another baby in need!
In a heart beat without a second thought!
The dear little Angel! How difficult would it have been to leave her!!!!???! Compassion would dictate that if you had the ability to nurse, then you would, and clearly this lovely girl has it in abundance…. I pray she and her family is blessed in abundance, and above all, baby Ceren lives a full and blessed life.
What an amazing story, how lucky that little girl was to have such special people to love and adore her in her time of need. Good on you, you should be so proud for what you have done.
Cathy – could you share your source for the story? I’d love to read more!
Hi Dionna, We translated it from this site after finding the images through one of our news agencies. http://www.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tv2.no%2Fnyheter%2Futenriks%2Fmaria-fant-livloes-baby-i-groefta-ammet-henne-tilbake-til-livet-3822955.html
FYI the article is from a Norwegian TV station…
“Then I knew that it blew up on the breasts, says Mary. She was afraid to break some cultural rules, so she asked the taxi driver if it was okay if she put the baby to the breast.
– He nodded and said, of course, so I hurried to put her, says Mary”
From what I have researched it is neither illegal nor culturally abnormal to nurse in Turkey, lest that be propagated.
The mother from the story asked to be cautious because she wasn’t aware of how he would react, but this article implies that it is a rule or law or that it is unheard of to see women nursing babies in public in Turkey. Not so, in fact, it may be more common to see babies nursing in Turkey than it is in the U.S. or U.K.
@Amanda. “Amazing! and beautiful! i’m so happy she thought to breastfeed that little girl. i hope i have an opportunity to save a life like this one day <3"
I'm sorry but, you are a horrible person. Why would you ever wish for someone else's life to be in a compromising situation just so *you* can feel like a hero? Selfish and disgusting attitude, really.
A much better hope is that this situation doesn't happen to other children. That people get more support for their lives so they don't feel they have to give birth and then abandon their children on the side of the road. This hope can be a reality too, and not just an idle "one day", by actually doing something for charities and organisations who were made for this. It's by sitting on your bottom doing nothing and wishfully hoping for an opportunity to arise that nothing gets done. There ARE babies out there right now, who are (literally) dying for someone to care for them. Why not be that person, for real? Today?
On topic –
This is a great story, and it's very lucky that the situation panned out like it did. Had it happened any other way, it could have been disastrous. However Maria, with her knowledge and understanding from her profession, gave her a better sense of what to do in situations like that and gave her the confidence to take action. Just even more lucky she was at the end of her own pregnancy to give the sustenance that baby needed.
Goes to show a little kindness and responsibility, paired with knowledge, can save a life =)
I was thinking the same exact thing when I read that comment
Being devil’s advocate here, but I think you jumping down this persons throat in such a mean way is also disgusting. I’m sure her intention would more likely be that if a situation arose where someone was in need that she would have the ability to help. Or at least that’s how I choose to read it. Sometimes people don’t express themselves in the best way, but I think her intention was clear. No need to turn a nice thought/gesture into something so ugly. There’s just no need for it.
without hesitation I would have done the same thing!! I never was in a situation to wet nurse, but I am absolutely sure that if I would if ever presented with the situation. And, yes, breastfeeding is what kept the human race, and all mammals, from extinction beginning from when Eve gave birth for the first time in history. There are so many stories through the centuries of mothers passing away and leaving newborns and even older infants to be nursed and kept alive by women in the same villages who were lactating. I only wish that I would have the opportunity to wet nurse, but am still thrilled with the fact that four children are happy, healthy and alive because I chose to do the one thing that I knew God had created me to do after I gave birth.
Um, there are no ‘cultural rules’ against breastfeeding in Turkey. You should alter that in your report before you unwittingly unleash an anti-Turkey backlash! 🙂 Breastfeeding in public is unremarkable and pretty well represented in most countries where Islam is the dominant religion.
I’m also not sure your wording here ‘…despite the fact that the child had been born to another woman from another country.’ is very helpful either. What’s the big deal with caring for children born to women from another country, whether that care is expressed as breastfeeding, feeding another way or just giving the child a cuddle?
Great story, though.
If I was only 31 weeks pregnant i wouldnot nurse the baby and risk premature labor. Nursing stimulates uterine contractions and possible early labor. I would take the baby to the closest hospital. If I was already nursing I would for sure.
Unless the pregnancy is endangered already (Maria would have been home though, not travelling abroad) there’s no risk of premature labour when nursing in pregnancy. Please have a look here: http://kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-preg/bfpregnancy_safety/ The above is a reliable site based on up to date studies. Please do not distribute incorrect info.
BTW, I know personally dozens of mums who nursed in pregnancy (myself included), and hundreds of such mums via dedicated Facebook groups.
I realise that this comment is 2 years old, but I can’t let this misinformation sit here unanswered.
As one of many thousands, probably millions, of women who have nursed through pregnancy perfectly safely I can assure you that what you have described is not a risk for the majority of pregnant women. Those with serious risk factors for preterm labour should be cautious of nursing during pregnancy, but the women who have these conditions would be aware of them. There was no risk of preterm labour for this woman.
That is a great story. I have nursed my nephew whos mom was at the hospital, and after many attempts from my mother at giving him a bottle, he was very hungry and had never taken a bottle before. I had a son the same age, and was nursing him, so instictivly, I took my nephew and nursed him- he didnt seem to notice at all that I was not his mother. I did not ask my sister if it was ok before I did it, but I hope that she appriciated the effort to keep her child healthy while she was away. And I would do it for any baby that needed me…
Like everyone else I think this is a wonderful story. I’m from the UK (England) and being very pro -breastfeeding I always encourage other mothers. I have breastfed babies other than my own, and breastfed my three children into toddlerhood.
I too would have found it very hard to leave little Ceren. Too many people have the opportunity to do something good but hesitate because they are worried about what other people might think.
Beautiful . I would have adopted her!! I am in the back of my job crying and wanting to go home and hug and nurse my 10 month old!!
i would do this in a heart beat!! this is a amazing thing to save a life as a mother i knw that i wouldve done the same! i breast fed my daughter for as long as i could and i wouldve done the same thing she done this is just a beautiful story other then the fact that the baby was left there =/ i wouldnt have been able to leave her there i wouldve tryd my best to get her!! <3
I wouldn’t even take the time to think a few seconds could mean life or death it would be instinct and instant i would not ask i would just do it.
Also why couldn’t she adopt the little girl herself that would be heart braking i would do all i could to get to adopt her myself.