Salma Hayek Shares Her Breast Milk
Categories: Eating & Nutrition, Celeb Parenting
It seems that not long before that interview, Salma had already discovered another good reason to keep her breast milk flowing: It comes in handy when you want to feed other people's babies.
Which is exactly what Hayek, a spokesperson for UNICEF, did during her visit to Sierra Leone in September 2008. It is widely believed in this West African country that breast feeding does not provide enough food for a baby, and that colostrum, or first milk, is actually poisonous. In an effort to encourage women there to breastfeed, the actress/humanitarian offered a sick baby boy the greatest gift of all -- milk from her own breast.
After she's fed the baby, Hayek wonders aloud if she's been disloyal to her own baby by sharing her milk. She decides that she has done something good for both babies. "My baby would be very proud to be able to share her milk," she says.
It seems that Hayek's unselfish giving of her breast milk is a bit of a family tradition. She tells the story of her own great-grandmother breast feeding a stranger's hungry child on a street in Mexico. It's a beautiful story made more so by Hayek's own gift to a hungry little baby.
If you ever found yourself in a position to do so, would you breastfeed another woman's child? Would you allow your child to feed at another woman's breast?
Celebrity Parent Quotes
"The key to beauty is always to be looking at someone who loves you. Henry, who can't say all the words...sometimes he'll see me and go, "Ma-ma!" and throw himself on me. Or Finn says he likes my earrings. Or Hazel will say, "You look pretty, Mama," first thing in the morning...They're seeing the things that [my husband] does.
The coolest thing you can do for your children is to love each other in their presence." -
Julia Roberts
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"I'm like an alcoholic. It's like, I don't care if I cry, I don't care if I'm fat, I'm just gonna do it for one more week, one more month, and then, when I see how much good it is doing her, I can't stop. It's a very powerful thing you know."
Salma Hayek
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"My first job in all honesty is going to continue to be mom-in-chief," she said, "making sure that in this transition, which will be even more of a transition for the girls ... that they are settled and that they know they will continue to be the center of our universe."
Michelle Obama
"I think I'm a pretty cool dad."
Barack Obama
"There is no such thing as 'fun for the whole family.'"
Jerry Seinfeld
"Sometimes I end up having to wipe my son's nose on my shirt, so it can't be silk and cost $800."
Keri Russel
"Apparently, I get facials and manicures all the time. I read this and think, 'Oh, I wish I did that!' I don't think I've had a facial since I was 19. When I shave my legs, I use my child's shampoo and a razor -- if I can find one. If I did everything they said I did, I would never see [my daughter] Lily."
Kate Beckinsale
"I think our kids will look back on all that as being really funny when they get older, because they think of us as being really dorky -- in fact, the dorkiest people on the planet! We are very much just parents together, although we have moments of being sexy and fun, and I do find him very sexy, obviously. I believe we are together for all the other reasons."
Angelina Jolie, on being "sex symbol" parents
"Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head."
Carol Burnett
"We found a great rhythm. Contractions started kicking in. I sat there with her, right between her legs. We got tribal on it, we danced to it! I was DJ-ing this Brazilian music."
Matthew McConaughey, on the birth of his son Levi.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Mary Kay 2-11-2009 @ 9:39PM
Breastfeeding does not become an addiction, you moron. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that thinks there is something wrong or sexual about breastfeeding a child. The worldwide average age of weaning is considerably higher than in our country where everyone is woefully uneducated about breastfeeding. I think what Salma Hayek was wonderful and beautiful and she should be applauded.
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Erika 2-11-2009 @ 12:03AM
What a beautiful thing she did. That poor, starving baby had a full belly for awhile.
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Joey M 2-11-2009 @ 4:04PM
That didn't look like a starving child to me, it was probably a child of someone on her staff. Do you believe everything you hear?
Aimee 2-11-2009 @ 8:35PM
What a wonderful thing!! No baby deserves to be hungry. I donate some of my milk to a milk bank and it's a wonderful feeling to know that I can help other babies. God bless her.
Erika 2-11-2009 @ 5:31PM
Joey, when babies and children are malnourished, their bellies get distended. Have a little faith in humanity that even though she's a celebrity, she's doing something nice.
juli 2-14-2009 @ 5:17PM
salma hayek is my new hero
Jamie 2-11-2009 @ 8:49AM
My milk has dried up. I still think it would be a safe bet to say that I would gladly feed a hungry baby. Who would let a baby go hungry knowing they could help fix the problem?
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Anita 2-11-2009 @ 9:04AM
I would gladly feed another baby my breast milk. I donated 660 ounces of it to a milk bank when I was pumping extra for my son but he refused to take a bottle so he never drank it.
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Leesha 2-11-2009 @ 11:16AM
OK its one thing to pump your milk and donate it, which is wonderful, but to put someone elses child on your breast i do not agree with that at all. Breast feeding is a very special experience between mom and baby, it is a bonding closeness. No i think she should have pumped, and maybe she could have kept on pumping the whole time she was there and left some for him.
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Alicia 2-11-2009 @ 5:06PM
Ever heard of wetnurses? That's exactly what they do - breastfeed other people's babies.
les 2-11-2009 @ 12:27PM
I'd be far more impressed if she STAYED to feed the baby. I hope she did pump some to keep for the baby.
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pantrygirl 2-11-2009 @ 1:42PM
I'd feel the same way as she did but would still do it. My baby would be proud to share her milk with a needy baby.
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joi 2-11-2009 @ 2:13PM
'It takes a village.....' If it can help another child then great. And I would hope it would be reciprocated
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Granma.. 2-11-2009 @ 2:25PM
What a wonderful thing to do.....My oldest sister was breast fed by another woman ,circa 1924, when our Mother was sick and couldn't.
Back in those days, I was told, that was done quite often.
The women were called WET NURSES.
My concern with Salma's good deed, the baby being ill... does the baby have AIDS ?
Oh yes, some may find this interesting, we are white..the woman who nursed my sister was black.....not a concern then.
These were people who lived " Back in the woods "...No TV..radio....no one telling them to be racists.
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wendy 2-11-2009 @ 3:52PM
When my third child was born in Brazil, my milk took about 4 days to come in, even though I had nursed my two other children for 3 years each.On the second or third day, my baby was crying of hunger, so I called my friend to come over and breastfeed him. His belly got filled, he slept peacefully, and it tied him over until my own milk came in. I will never forget that favor she did for me. I am grateful that my son's first nursing came from a loving woman and a warm breast, not a plastic nipple. I wish there were more people in the world that understood that we are ALL kin.
BKM4557 2-11-2009 @ 6:52PM
I babysat for a friend who had a baby the same age as mine. He woke up while she was gone and since he didn't take a bottle I fed him so he would go back to sleep.
23 years later he became my son-in-law when he married my second daughter.
A friend of mine fed my oldest daughter when I was on medication and couldn't breastfeed. I am so thankful she was there to help. My sister-in-law breastfed my twins when I had to take my husband to the hospital. I don't know what I would have done without her.
sillygirl 2-11-2009 @ 2:27PM
I LOVE Salma! I would have done the same thing. Some people talk the talk, Salma walks the walk unashamedly! Other celebrities might say they are trying to change the world, but Ms. Salma proved to those poor souls in Sierra Leone that she truly cares about their plight.
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Renee 2-11-2009 @ 2:33PM
My milk supply was seriously compromised during the first weeks of my daughter's life. I finally gave her a bottle of formula realizing rule number 1 of lactation consulting: Feed the baby....My daughter became violently ill. Later that day, during a breastfeeding support group, one of the other mothers who was exclusively breastfeeding her 4 month old twins offered her milk to supplement mine for my daughter. We did this for several months until my milk supply issues resolved. I thank her for her selfless gift to my daughter. The "funny" thing is, when I told people what I was doing, the reactions were mostly negative. You would have thought I was going to some crack addicted, HIV infected woman to feed my daughter. Through lots of education, and the visual confirmation of my daughter's once skinny legs becoming fat and happy, changed most of their minds. My daughter will be 5 next month, and I still nursed her for 2 months past her 4th birthday. She is weaned now (her choice) and she is beautiful, smart and healthy. Although the woman that gave her milk and I are no longer speaking, I still thank her for her selfless gift.
Thank you Salma, you have done a wonderful service to that lucky child in Africa. God Bless you.
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calcat 2-11-2009 @ 7:20PM
You did the right thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many people do think about what is best, they think about what other would say. Where would people be today if we had the same thoughts on blood transfusions, bone marrow donations, organ donations and so on. I'm pretty sure the same people who look down on sharing breast milk don't say the same about the other donation especially if it saves their lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kate 2-11-2009 @ 10:18PM
My best friend nursed my newborn daughter after I hemorrhaged & was taken to the operating room for treatment. She saw that my baby was hungry and heard the nurses talking about giving her formula, so she approached my husband to ask if he wanted her to nurse our little girl. He was happy to let her do so and I was very happy to hear that she'd offered that, thus ensuring that my daughter was not given formula, per my wishes.
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