Wet nursing: modern mothers connect via Facebook to revive controversial practice BREAST OF FRIENDS: Meg Nagle (left), 32, with son Malachi, 15 months, and Kate Tully, 40, with daughter Zoe, 3. Both have breastfed each other's babies when they were unable to themselves. Pic: Megan Slade. WHEN Sunshine Coast mum Kate Tully couldn't breastfeed her newborn, she turned to her good friend Meg Nagle. Cupping baby Zoe to her breast, Mrs Nagle breastfed her friend's daughter until the child was content. Wet nursing - or breastfeeding other people's children - dates back millennia but faded out when bottle feeding took over. Now Australian women are reviving the controversial practice and encouraging mothers to explore their options. Meg and Kate are part of a network of women connecting through friends and Facebook to share expressed milk as well as offer wet nursing services. Queensland Health does not encourage wet nursing in public hospitals because of the risk of spreading infectious diseases. The Australian Breastfeeding Association encourages women to make "informed choices" but warns of the risks and suggests health screening as a safety precaution. The World Health Organisation recommends mother's milk first but when that can't happen lists wet nursing as an option. Australian College of Midwives secretary Professor Jenny Gamble said wet nursing was yet to be considered "socially" acceptable but was a natural thing to do. "The idea that we feed each other's babies is absolutely not new," said Prof Gamble. It may not be socially discussed. But the idea that your sister or friend feeds each other's babies goes on. It's happening and it's normal. I'm not talking about the hippy set but just normal groups of women who can give each other support. Prof Gamble said there was some risk associated with milk sharing, such as spreading HIV, but milk sharing among trusted healthy women was low risk. However she said society was still to fully embrace breastfeeding in public, so it could be a while before wet nursing was a social norm. "We have quite a way to go in normalising the full range of breastfeeding behaviours," she said. Meg Nagle, 32, was only too happy to help her friend, author Kate Tully, 40, when she suffered a haemorrhage after the birth Zoe and "could barely lift my head let alone breastfeed." Not only did Meg act as a wet nurse, she collected breast milk donations from other mums to keep Kate supplied until she could breastfeed. Later Kate returned the favour when Meg, whose son Malachi was three-months old, had to undertake a five-hour exam. "I gave him a breastfeed for a few minutes only and he fell asleep and he was happy," said Kate. It didn't matter whose boob it was, he did not blink twice. Both mums have wet nursed other people's children, with Kate lending her breasts to a set of premature twins. And they personally know "dozens" of women who have informally shared breast milk. Meg, a lactation consultant, said many people would consider wet nursing "weird." "I think a lot of people will say..'I could never have someone else milk' yet people don't even think twice about formula that is a from a cow that is meant to grow a calf," she said. They don't even think about how weird that is. Yet accepting breast milk from another woman is seen as weird.