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.
Related Articles:
- Baby Thought to be Stillborn Celebrates First Birthday
- First Mother-to-Child Case of Chagas Disease Reported in U.S.
- Mom Delivers Baby Along Interstate-70
This is really amazing. I love the idea of nursing a baby back to life-that must have been so powerful. What women possess is truly miraculous.
My grandmother nursed other babies than her own during the 20’s. Women who do this are called “Wet Nurses”.
Mercy has no race, no nationality, no questions.
OMG… THIS STORY BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES… GOD BLESS THE YOUNG MOM WHO SAVED THE LITTLE GIRL’S LIFE. THANK GOD THEY HAD THE CAB TO TURN AROUND… BLESSINGS TO THE YOUNG FAMILY. GOD USED YOU TO BLESS THE NEW BORN. SPECIAL BLESSING TO THE YOUNG INFANT IN JESUS NAME AMEN.
Great story, and I definitely see no issue with breastfeeding someone else’s baby! I’m more shocked about the “cultural rules against nursing in public”! Completely shocked by THAT!
This is a beautiful story! May God reward this woman for her kindness. She formed a lifelong bond with this baby. There are no cultural prohibitions against breastfeeding, it is natural just covering up is needed but this was life and death situation and the taxi driver offcourse understood. I am sure he was touched and impressed with this amazing act. Also, in Islam, because she breastfed this baby, she is now her daughter. Breastfeeding relationship is like birth relationship. This woman’s children are the baby’s brothers/sisters.
What this woman did was awesome, and I would have done the same thing in her position. I had trouble with latching (had to use special creams for soreness), and supply (not even a pump helped), I didn’t nurse for long. I quit at 6 months with our older two, and 3 months with our youngest. (Was on meds). I wish I could have had a more ample supply…
If I was lactating, I wont not hesitate. I would even donate my extra milk to the hospital for the premature babies or mothers of babies who milk hasn’t come in yet. Before bottles and formula, there were woman who had the job of breastfeeding other woman’s babies, they were called Wet Nurse. I think most people who would think it wasn’t right to breast feed another’s baby, would be concerned about HIV and other illnesses passed through the breast milk…?
my grandmother and her four sisters all fed each other’s babies when they minded them, back in the early 1900’s. It was the natural thing to do. Nourishment is nourishment, end of story.
Beautiful story. It’s just food for a baby so I’m glad the lady was able to save her this way. As far as adoption is concerned I think she did the right thing. As much as I’m sure she would have loved to take that baby, the baby’s culture and home was in Turkey. It is better for the baby to go to loving parents in her home of Turkey. I’m sure the baby and the mother will always be connected. This story ended the right way I think.
I would absolutely have done the same thing! I actually have wet nursed other babes. My own son was allergic to my milk, and I had an abundant milk supply, and it seemed such a waste to just let my mammaries dry up. When I no longer needed to wet nurse, I pumped and donated tons of breastmilk. I look forward to when I have another child and I can share that bond with him/her! =) And I would also be interested in breastfeeding an adopted child.
How Amazing! I would have wanted too, but I think I would have hand pumped into a bottle. The reason why, is that certain diseases can be transferred from a baby to a nursing woman, and vise versa through saliva/nipple/milk. The child could have had diseases given to it from its birth mother. Even though I think it was a wonderful thing she did, she did put herself and her unborn baby’s life at risk. Thankfully, the baby was healthy besides the immediate danger, but if it had not, the consequences to that mother to be, could have been life threatening to her, and her unborn baby :/
I would have no problem with nursing another’s child. I had twins and nursed both with no problem. While nursing my son we visited with a family member and he told us that he was the same age as his oldest sisters first child. His mom and sister would baby sifor each other and nurse both babies this would have been in the 1940s. He said a baby needs to be fed no matter where and who’s feeding him.
I took my 18 month old son to visit relatives in my hometown. Got to see one of my cousins and she had a 3 week old baby girl. I had been blessed to have a nursing babysitting so I could return to work. My cousin was tired so I offered to nurse her baby while she washed up and go something to eat. My male cousins were shocked. “You can do that?” Cousin Henry said, “Oh, like a pinch hitter in baseball.” It was a warm experience lending a hand so to speak.
My wife has donated pumped milk while breastfeeding our daughter. And my grandma sold breast milk to a man who was allergic to cow milk before they had almond milk and lactose free stuff.
I think it is great to be able to help others in this way.
When my daughter was 10 days old she was in ICU,my mom had been a foster parent at the time and was getting a new foster baby out of the NICU at the same hospitalso I meet her there. The baby was an Afro-American baby and failure to thrive, the nurse noticed that my body reacted to his crying and asked if I was breastfeeding. I explained to her my situation and that pumping was not working and I was losing my milk. The nurse excused herself leaving my mom and I to bond with the baby. The nurse returned with 2 Doctors and another women and explained that they had a way not only to help the baby, but my daughter. Every formula they had used on him was not helping him grow.. would I be willing to ‘wet nurse’ him?
Thanks to the nurse, not only did I have milk for my daughter,but I also continued to feed my ‘foster son’ for another 6 weeks until he was healthy enough to be adopted. That was almost 30 yrs ago.
Dies anybody know how Ceren is doing now, 2 years later?
I would of adopted the baby. Also for all the above comments it’s doesn’t say in this article if turkey does or does not have a law for BF. It just says she asked because of her not knowing if there was or wasn’t a law for it. Most likely because she was from Denmark she knew that since there’s laws in different states here… it might be different there. I think she had do don’t of feeding that baby but ma
This is Amazing,I would absolutely have done the same thing!
Amazing story emotional made me cry.. God bless her heart for nursing the baby whose she fines a nice fam Ameen
This is nothing new. “Wet nurses” were essential back in the days when mothers died more frequently during childbirth, etc.