{"id":716,"date":"2013-12-22T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/?p=716"},"modified":"2013-12-19T22:29:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T06:29:40","slug":"the-magic-of-mothers-milk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/culture\/the-magic-of-mothers-milk\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magic of Mothers’ Milk"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Cure for Red, Itchy Eyes<\/b><\/h4>\n
\"Hannah<\/a>

Hannah and Ari<\/p><\/div>\n

A few months ago my niece\u2019s eyes were driving her crazy. They were red, itchy and dry. \u00a0It was probably just an allergy, but she didn\u2019t want to take an antihistamine because she was breast feeding. What to do?<\/p>\n

Then she remembered that her friend had cured her baby\u2019s eye infection with breast milk. It was worth a try.<\/p>\n

She put a few drops of milk in each eye, and \u2026 Instantly better. So much so that she didn\u2019t have to use the milk cure again. Not on her eyes. A week or two later, though, she used it on her ear. She\u2019d torn the skin with her earring and it got infected. She applied a few drops that day and again the next day. Once again, milk success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably cures cancer,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Baby Formula<\/b><\/h4>\n

Mothers weren\u2019t nearly as enthusiastic about their milk when I was a baby. Breastfeeding was considered old fashioned, even disgusting, a practice only for the poor and uneducated. (See The One Best Way?: Breastfeeding History,\u00a0 Politics and Policy in Canada.)<\/i><\/a> <\/i>Nevertheless, my mom wanted to nurse me. \u201cI tried,\u201d she told me years later, smiling down at her ample breasts. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t have enough milk. With the war going on and never knowing whether your dad was alive or dead, I was too nervous.\u201d She looked apologetic.<\/p>\n

Triple-chin Chen<\/b><\/h4>\n

By the time my children were born, nursing was back in style<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I nursed my first two daughters for five or six months each. My youngest, Rose, only got three months. I blame that on Nellie\u2019s love of babies. We moved to the Philippines soon after Rose was born. Nellie, our first maid, didn\u2019t have much opportunity to care for her except when I went out. Each time I left, I nursed the baby first and told Nellie I would feed her again when I returned.<\/p>\n

But when I walked in the door, my breasts leaking milk, Rose would be sound asleep, no longer interested in eating because Nellie had fed her lugao (rice porridge) with a raw egg stirred in. I tried to reason with her, but Nellie never saw my point. A crying baby needed to eat. That was the long and the short of it.<\/p>\n

\"R's<\/a><\/p>\n

Inevitably, we ended up with a chubby baby. Triple-chin Chen, we called her.<\/p>\n

Wet Nurses<\/b><\/h4>\n

\"baby<\/a>In the world my husband was born into, if you could afford it, you hired a wet nurse. It was wartime, 1938. The invading Japanese army and navy had surrounded their island in southeastern China. Food was hard to come by. Baby formula was out of the question. Either you nursed your own baby or you found a nursing mother whose baby was old enough to start eating rice porridge, and you paid her to nurse yours.<\/p>\n

Ironically, wet nurses have become popular in China again.\u00a0 (See: Tainted Milk Scandal Revives China\u2019s \u201cwet nurses.<\/a>\u201d) The practice was discontinued for decades after Mao Zedong denounced it as decadent. But in 2004 when four babies died from drinking tainted baby formula and almost 13,000 were hospitalized, mothers who didn\u2019t want to nurse started looking for wet nurses.<\/p>\n

Wet Nurses for Adults<\/b><\/h4>\n

The list of ailments breast milk is alleged to cure<\/a> is as long as your arm. Is it any wonder then that adults want to partake of this \u201cmiracle\u201d liquid filled with enzymes, hormones, immune factors, antibodies and balanced nutrients?<\/p>\n

In Shenzhen China, breast milk has become the new luxury item<\/a> for some wealthy Chinese adults. They hire wet nurses for $2600 a month, and drink either directly from the breast or after the milk has been expressed using a breast pump. Not surprisingly, the practice has provoked outrage in China and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>Next post: “No Cars Allowed”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Cure for Red, Itchy Eyes A few months ago my niece\u2019s eyes were driving her crazy. They were red, itchy and dry. \u00a0It was probably just an allergy, but she didn\u2019t want to take an antihistamine because she was breast feeding. What to do? Then she remembered that her friend had cured her baby\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[135,133,137,138,134,139,136],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-culture","tag-baby-formula","tag-breast-feeding","tag-lugao-and-raw-egg","tag-tainted-baby-formula","tag-therapeutic-effects-of-mothers-milk","tag-wet-nurses-for-adults","tag-wet-nurses-in-china","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-by","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/culture\/skirts-and-pants\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":0},"title":"Skirts and Pants","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Most American women have more pants in their closets than skirts. So why are there no skirts or dresses in men\u2019s closets? A silly question, you say? But think about it. How hard would it be to design dresses to suit the dimensions and lifestyles of men? The Scots used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo courtesy of Emily Hill","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Kilt-1024x753.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Kilt-1024x753.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Kilt-1024x753.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5344,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/everyone-has-a-maid-or-two-or-three\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":1},"title":"“Everyone” Has a Maid (or Two or Three).","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"July 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Back home, I was an independent woman. I did my own house cleaning, washed the clothes, cared for the kids, weeded the garden, mowed the lawn ... No pizza delivery for us, no take-out, no supermarket deli food. We cooked our own meals. That\u2019s just the way things were for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "expatriate life"","block_context":{"text":"expatriate life","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/expatriate-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nellie and R","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Nellie-and-Rose-001-e1468448513977.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1719,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/tiger-tail-soup-the-novel\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":2},"title":"Have I Piqued Your Interest Yet?","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"June 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Have I succeeded, dear readers of my blog, in arousing your curiosity? Over the past ten months, have I been able to spark your interest in topics related to my novel? Have I stimulated your hunger for more? Because--I cannot lie--that's exactly what I've been hoping to do.First, I introduced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"my cover, 5-27-14","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/my-cover-5-27-14.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9543,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/vanuatu\/vanuatu-vanuatu\/what-they-ate\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":3},"title":"What They Ate","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"June 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"lunch at the beach When I started getting reviews and comments back from early readers of When in Vanuatu, there was one thing that surprised me--the interest some of them had in the food my characters ate. Here are some of what they said: A comment by She Just Loves\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/scan0012-e1622064911883.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3218,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/everyday-creativity\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":4},"title":"Everyday Creativity","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"February 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What shall we have for dinner? Whether you cook for yourself or for a crowd, if you\u2019re the person responsible for dinner, you have a daily creativity challenge. The meal you cook doesn\u2019t have to win awards, but it should be appealing, and it must be edible. Most of all,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creativity"","block_context":{"text":"Creativity","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/creativity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Table is set.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_0764-e1422301421581.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":533,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/culture\/nursing-with-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":5},"title":"Nursing with Books","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today\u2019s post speaks directly to a particular group: women who have breastfed a baby. For those of you men or women who have never had the experience, maybe you\u2019re curious about what we do while the little guy is eating. \u00a0Slow eaters, and oh, so hungry \u00a0Before your first baby\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hannah3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Hannah3-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Hannah3-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Hannah3-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1073,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/1073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}