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Salma Hayek Shares Her Breast Milk
Filed under: Celeb Parents
We all know there are lots of very good reasons to breast feed: Nutrition, bonding and economics, just to name a few. But for some moms, the act of breastfeeding can become a little bit of an addiction, and they are loathe to give it up. Actress Salma Hayek, whose daughter Valentina Paloma turned one last September, admitted as much in an interview last year. "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," she explains. "Then, when I see how much good it is doing her, I can't stop."
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?
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
WireImage
"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
Getty Images
"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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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 7)
2-11-2009 @ 3:18PM
aichajcan said...Good for you Salma, not too long ago breastfeeding childern other than your own was the norm. You did it to help the mom that couldn't feed her own. Breastfeeding is the best option for all babies up to age 2. As mentioned in this article in this culture they believe that colostrum is poison! Colostrum is VITAL to all newborns. This may explain the high death rates of young childern in their country. The antibodies found in colostrum are not found in formula. If your breast milk can give another child a better beginning at life, I have to ask why not? In Islam two unrelated children that are breastfed by the same women cannot marry each other as they are considered now to be siblings. The belief is that some of the mothers genetic make-up is passed through the breast milk and inherited by both the children making them genetically related. Think about that!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:20PM
Breastmilkisbestmilk said...I think it was a wonderful thing, i'm sure that Salma had enough sense to ask if the baby had hiv or not.
Breast feeding is the best way to go and even in public. I was unable to feed my daughter but when I had my son I fed him for 18months. I watched my younger siblings being breastfed and not only that when my Aunt had a child later on in life she not only breast fed him, she also breast fed her grand child b/c my cousin was unable to provide milk. It's a family affair and the more folks are aware that it's the most natural way to go the more healthy children we will have. Now I don't know if i could have a kid hanging on my boob until they were 4 or 5 LOL that's a bit too long for me personally but hey each experience is an individual one. Kudos to Salma. I'd also like to say to the closed minded folks out there with their blinders on... Evoloution didn't miss you, at some point your ancestors were hanging from a boob in public LOL.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:23PM
Mishelle said...AIDS? Give me a break! What this woman did was a selfless act and she should be praised for this! I applaud her for educating all the ignorant people out there that are not familiar with simple terms like: wet nurse, humanitarium etc. If I could, I would give my breast milk to any infant/toddler that needed it to survive. It's called having a heart and wanting to help those in need. If you are uncomfortable with a woman breastfeeding a child, then YOU HAVE PROBLEMS that need to be addressed before you because a strain on society.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:23PM
Mike said...I'M NEXT!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:28PM
moo moo the cow said...That is the best thing you can do. Some day the milk dries up. If it's flowing, why not share it? It is the best thing to give to all babies. There is nothing shameful nor disrespectful in doing this. A wet nurse save my fathers life. I breast fed 5 kids for 15 months and if I could, I would breast feed any needy child. If some one did not do it for my dad, I would not be here today. You go Salma!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:31PM
Stephanie said...I think it was a wonderful thing she did for that starving baby and breastfeeding is a beautiful and natural thing and anyone who has a problem with a woman breatfeeding a child in public should never leave their house!!!!! Breastfeed away moms!!!!!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:30PM
sis4world said...I would without hesitation breastfeed another's child. There are many cultures in the world that see breastfeeding as a natural and loving act and many who readily share in the feeding of the infant. I've read about what is called wet-nurses being used in various countries including our own. If we stop thinking of the breasts as objects of sexual play, we would see the more practical uses and blessings of them.
Amy
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2-11-2009 @ 3:34PM
Steph said...I know exactly how she feels. I loved breastfeeding my last child. I had such trouble with it the first two times around that I was unsure I was going to be able to breastfeed the third, but I did it for 14 months. And the only reason I stopped was because we were about to take an 1800 mile move thanks to the military. If I wasn't "urged" to stop, I would probably still be pumping and donating to a milk bank and my youngest is about to be 5. It didn't do anything for my weight wise, unlike my friend, but I loved pumping. And I didn't just pump a few ounces here and there. In the hospital my baby would eat for an hour and I would then pump-and-dump about 12 oz, and this was 5 times a day. The nurses joked with me that I could have fed all the babies in the nursery. I don't know about having strange baby on my breast, but pumping and giving it away sounds awesome to me. I wish I never would have stopped pumping. :( I'm a huge breastfeeding advocate. It's a beautiful, wonderfully healthy, natural thing. My 4 year old is so much more advanced than my other two children were, with whom I breastfed 6 wks and 3 months respectively. I think it's great for them and I wish more moms would do it. I didn't suffer postpartum depression, I suffered post-breastfeeding depression. It was really sad.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:53PM
Kay said...My Grandmother nursed a premee baby along with her son, my Uncle, She was called a "Wet Nurse". She also nursed her own baby sister as her mother and she had babies with in 2 months of each other and her mother, My Great Grandmother had little milk. I think these women who share are HEROS. Mother's milk is always the first choice. Do we not foster animals of all species ? Then why not our own??(Goat milk being the #1 universal milk.)
I Applaud Salma for her unselfish wonderful gift to that child.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:36PM
Faye said...I would gladly feed someone else's child ...but would feel weird having my child be fed by someone else unless I knew that person had been tested for disease and hygiene . It is just weird to have someone feed my child a bodily fluid unless I knew for sure they were healthy .
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2-11-2009 @ 7:19PM
Fannie said...I don't get how she could be being disloyal to her own baby in donating milk. She saved a baby boy's life. Take the selfish, stupid sentinmentality out of everything, including motherhood, and we'd have a better world. A baby is hungry and needs milk and that is that. It doesn't matter who it came from or how as long as the sharing mother is healthy.
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2-11-2009 @ 3:48PM
Adrienne said...My mother came from Italy on the boat, That's what they did back then. If my child was starving and some one could help, I would be so grateful . What Salma did was wonderful and for all the people with negative comments you do not know what you are talking about!!!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:51PM
arlene said...what a kind and unselfish act....way to go Selma!!!
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2-11-2009 @ 3:54PM
Joey M said...At first I didn't think anything of it but now, looking at this chunky healthy in front of all those reporters, I have to say, it was a ridiculous and BS thing for her to do, she's a silly, misguided woman, why the heck are actors and actresses going to Arfica? Don't those people have enough to deal with and now they have to humor these premadonnas???? I'm embarassed for her.
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2-11-2009 @ 4:23PM
Stephanie said...The baby she was feeding was sick skinny and malnourished!! Instead of being embarassed for her you should be embarassed for yourself for being so small minded and cold hearted. Salma gave that baby something wonderful that his mother (who is probably sick too) was unable to give him! She should be applauded for her actions not condemned!!!!
2-11-2009 @ 5:15PM
Joey M said...Don't people look at the photos? The baby is not skinny or malnourished, is dressed all in white and is prbably a stand in for the photo op. Come one guys, be real. You can not believe everything you hear.
2-11-2009 @ 5:28PM
Stephanie said...maybe you should watch the video rocket scientist the baby she breastfed was only one week old and very skinny!!! Before you go running your mouth maybe you should get the facts piondexter!!!!!
2-11-2009 @ 5:35PM
Joey M said...The baby was not skinny and malnourished, what baby were you looking at and furthermore, nursing is great, wet-nursing is great, nursing in public is fine is done discreetly, but I can not help feel that the action of Selma Hayek were wholly inappropriate, that's the way I feel. She was a celebrity doing a photo shoot, you don't have to agree with me, but something about it bothers me.
2-11-2009 @ 5:48PM
Joey M said...Stephanie, you think that baby was a week old? You better put your glasses on. You really are a moron!
2-11-2009 @ 5:54PM
Joey M said...Stephanie:
Well, OK, Selma changed the little girls life forever and her life will be wonderful, is that what you think? Then maybe if Selma feeds you, you'll get a brain.