firstly, breastfeeding a child (regardless of whether or not its your child) is NOT akin to taking a dump! you people and your website are doing nothing but reinforcing the ridiculous ideals and norms that make it so hard for a woman to breastfeed her children in peace.

Well I both agree and disagree with you guys, totally understand the virus issue and for the most part I don't get it myself being a woman who has breastfed her children, I wouldn't let anyone else breast feed my kids let alone breast feed someone else's child, unless I was say - being a saragent mother to an orphaned infant, than I would make an exception. Other than that I sure would like to know the answer to the question myself, maybe it will give me a better perspective.

Well another note, most women are also more bonding than most men are by nature, some women may have closer (non-sexual) bonding to certain children, it depends probably on what they are comfortable with. If you look at nature, a lot of females play the roles of saragent mother, cats for example I've seen, kittens would go back and forth between the two mothers of the two litters of kittens. I know women are not cats or other animals, but we are still animals/mammals, so therefore it's not really that shocking when you really think about it that way, that some women may just be more nurturing by nature, and may feel strongly compelled to bond with a baby regardless of if it's theirs or not. I can see how this would be hard for a man to understand, because men tend to be a bit territorial, and their mission may be to insure only their offspring, for that is in a lot of males nature. I'm generalizing - I'm not saying all men or all women are like this, so please don't take this the wrong way.

Well, the whole territorial thing does make sense from the male's perspective- ensuring your offsprings survival is an ancient instinct.

There is also a very valid scientific reason for not letting other women nurse your child. You mentioned viruses in your video, which along with bacterial infections is a very real concern. Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), for example is very possible through breast milk (almost as bad as blood contact!), which would be full of the virus even before the infection is evident. (and thus she probably hasn't been tested yet, and may not even suspect she has it) Breast milk in general is a collector of many different diseases and impurities in the human body. (a lot of diseases you don't want your baby to have, and could possibly be fatal at that vulnerable age.)

Aside from disease, there is also the 'drug factor' Drugs of all types, from aspirin to nicotine show up in breast milk. Ever notice medicine commercials almost always include the warning "should not be taken by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding" That warning is there for a reason, and in fact, even handling medicine can cause it to become present in breast milk. A woman's doctor may have decided that risk of her taking some medicine out ways the risk of breast feeding on it, or could have even told her to stop breast feeding (which is advice that she could have well ignored, or simply not paid attention to.) I wouldn't want my baby to inadvertently ingest drugs that could cause all sorts of debilitating damage without us even knowing it!

Overall, communal breast feeding isn't the greatest of ideas, at least from a medical standpoint.