On a recent trip to Sierra Leone, Africa, actress Salma Hayek's motherly instinct kicked in when she saw a hungry African baby. Still nursing her 16-month-old daughter Valentina, Hayek began breastfeeding the one week old baby boy.
What would you do if you were breastfeeding your own child and came across a hungry baby whose own mother was not healthy enough to give of her own milk? For actress Salma Hayek, it was an easy choice. She tells Nightline she initially wondered if she was being disloyal to her own child by giving away her milk, but decided it was the right way to teach her daughter to be a caring, generous person. "My baby would be proud to give her milk. I am in Africa and I was able to feed a hungry baby."
In fact, Hayek remembers her great-grandmother telling her the story of when she was young and nursing her own children, she breastfeed a hungry baby she saw in a Mexican village. She says that story always stuck with her and feels this was her way of giving back to the world.
In Africa, many girls have babies at age 13 and, even though food and clean water is not easy to find, their hubands discourage them from breastfeeding because they think a nursing woman cannot have sexual relations. It would be great to think that perhaps Hayek's generous act will help change their thinking.
Watch the video and share with us your thoughts on Hayek breastfeeding the African baby boy.
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