December 2013 Weddings

NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)

I missed the giant NIP meltdown thread, but I just heard this from a friend and thought I'd share. I'm hopeful this is a UnityHorse topic - BFing w/o lactating.

One of my friends is a NICU nurse and she witnessed the grandmother of a NICU baby BFing. She asked if the grandma was a wetnurse or something (hoping this was a legit feeding) and the woman rolled her eyes and said, "No. Every woman in my culture BFs. Americans wouldn't understand." The supervising nurse confirmed this woman had no milk. She was just BFing nothing I guess. The mother of the baby was there too which makes it even more strange.

I have no idea what culture this family was.





Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)

  • That's strange. I've seen cats and dogs "comfort nurse" when there's no leche and I've seen babies look for milk where there isn't any (like when my friend's toddler stuck her sticky, orange creamsicle covered hand down my top and tried to pull my boob out of it), but this is new.
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  • So the kid was just using her tit as a paci?

    Um....
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  • Maybe I'm off base, but isn't one of the necessary parts of breastfeeding FEEDING?  I mean, it's right there in the word.

    If the kid isn't eating, it's not BFing.  It's nipple sucking.
    I keep an inch and a half guardrail nut on a loop of 550 cord. It's not whiz-bang tactical, but one smack in the grape and it's coloring books for Christmas.
  • I don't know that you can call it breast feeding if there's no milk....
  • I'd go with strange but not disgusting.  Seems like it could confuse a baby, though.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:85c6014f-b6f6-49eb-a054-62c3ea6d857f">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]Maybe I'm off base, but isn't one of the necessary parts of breastfeeding FEEDING?  I mean, it's right there in the word. If the kid isn't eating, it's not BFing.  It's nipple sucking.
    Posted by SIIHPAPP[/QUOTE]
    I second this.

    Though my brother in a moment of missing paci, mom in shower, dirty hands desperation let my neice suck on his nose just to get her to stop screaming for a second.  Same idea?
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:086d1048-c76c-4bc4-869d-161e1f1eb289">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]Though my brother in a moment of missing paci, mom in shower, dirty hands desperation let my neice suck on his nose just to get her to stop screaming for a second.  Same idea?
    Posted by wawajeanne[/QUOTE]

    Please say there's photographic evidence of this somewhere.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:086d1048-c76c-4bc4-869d-161e1f1eb289">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms) : I second this. Though my brother in a moment of missing paci, mom in shower, dirty hands desperation let my neice suck on his nose just to get her to stop screaming for a second.  Same idea?
    Posted by wawajeanne[/QUOTE]

    I vote not the same since noses don't feed babies. At least, not intentionally ; )  It'd be like sucking on a finger.
  • I get that it's part of her culture, but I admit it skeeves me out. Babies root at my boobs all the time, I give them a pinky. They're pleased as punch, no boobage necessary.
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  • SibilSibil member
    First Comment
    My first thought was that maybe there actually is a culture that has a custom of nippling (? how else to describe it?) an infant family member.  I mean, if they don't have pacis, it's an appendage sort of, that soothes the infant, even if it's not functional.  And if it's close family... I don't know, I guess I could maybe see it.  
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:883b6f18-4548-4313-95b5-f057c9f97188">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]My first thought was that maybe there actually is a culture that has a custom of nippling (? how else to describe it?) an infant family member.  I mean, if they don't have pacis, it's an appendage sort of, that soothes the infant, even if it's not functional.  And if it's close family... I don't know, I guess I could maybe see it.  
    Posted by Sibil[/QUOTE]

    I've never heard of that. Nippling?!

    This was in a state of the art hospital though and a BFing mom was right there, so I'm not understanding the purpose in this situation.
  • That seems....odd to me.  I don't want to judge if it is a cultural thing, but I can't imagine putting my boob in a baby's mouth when that baby is not mine.  I can see the look on my SILs face now. It seems very "hand that rocks the cradle to me"...
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  • I really wish we knew what culture this was.  I've never heard of it.  Was it to soothe the baby or to bond with it?
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:f6101d50-4791-48bd-9ade-9d77a81e7b61">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms) : Please say there's photographic evidence of this somewhere.
    Posted by meshaliu[/QUOTE]

    There used to be, (my first reaction upon witnessing that was to scramble for a camera) but in a truly tragic computer hardrive meltdown most of the pictures from the early years of my neice's life were lost. 
  • SibilSibil member
    First Comment
    Oh, I'm totally making up the term nippling.  I just don't know what else to call it since it's obviously not feeding.
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  • bwahhaha!  How do you think, "Crap, the baby is crying, I'll give her my nose!"
  • curlydoglovercurlydoglover member
    First Comment
    edited June 2010
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:1666e1fe-8234-4a31-a588-e406dd66f874">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]I really wish we knew what culture this was.  I've never heard of it.  Was it to soothe the baby or to bond with it?
    Posted by lilmgirl[/QUOTE]

    I can't imagine it was to soothe the baby, especially if lactating mom is standing right there. KWIM?

    I'd be curious as to the culture too.

    ETA: I'm also kinda boggled this happened in a NICU.  Maybe my NICU experience with my niece and nephew was more extreme than some but I remember the rules being fairly strict about visitors (i.e. anyone who weren't the parents).
  • wh-wh-wh-wh-whaat? Aside from what I perceive as crazy, that seems cruel. Letting a baby nurse (that's a lot of work for a newborn... a NICU baby especially) from a dry well? Sad...

    My mom has told my son that she would nurse him if she could, but there's nothing there. I thanked God at that moment that she didn't have milk for fear I'd walk into the room with my son latched to her. *gag* 
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  • Infants do nurse for comfort... lord knows MPI latched and "nursed" with no milk for a half hour a side... he may still do it if I let him.

    That doesn't make it any less creepy that gma was doing it though...

    MH often "tests" MPI's hunger by offering him his nose. When he was brand new he would suckle it. Now he just licks it. Either way, I hate it, give the kid your finger, not your drippyass nose!
    So it goes.
  • not feeling the granny nipping my kid thing....
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_december-2013-weddings_nip-story-not-reopening-can-of-worms?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:86fad5ed-d98c-49cb-bb5d-a1193bae6f18Discussion:d14cc169-4d0f-43c7-8b6b-835eb1957887Post:7fa920aa-fca8-426c-b44f-3051bb56ea8a">Re: NIP story for you all (not reopening that can of worms)</a>:
    [QUOTE]wh-wh-wh-wh-whaat? Aside from what I perceive as crazy, that seems cruel. Letting a baby nurse (that's a lot of work for a newborn... a NICU baby especially) from a dry well? Sad...
    Posted by BrideJaye[/QUOTE]
    this is my thinking as well. i'd think getting that NICU baby mom's milk in a hurry would be the priority, not letting grandma sooth with a dry nip, ya know?
  • That is odd, but maybe it was a soothing thing as they are in the NICU?

    Oh, and gypsygirl--40 weeks.  It flew!
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  • Yeah, that's all kind of weird.  I'm not sure if "oh, it's cultural" is legit or a crockofshit excuse for "I really miss nursing so I'm going to pretend..."

    Chiming in with comfort nursing - Sam definitely does this. He would sleep that way if I let him.
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