We're all aware of the medical benefits associated with breastfeeding yet researchers are finding that the prevalence of breastfeeding isn't as high, nor practiced for the recommended amount of time before weening, as they recommend. A report in the most recent edition of the journal Pediatrics states:

Data indicate that the rate of initiation and duration of breastfeeding in the United States are well below the Healthy People 2010 goals. Furthermore, many of the mothers counted as breastfeeding were supplementing their infants with formula during the first 6 months of the infant's life. Although breastfeeding initiation rates have increased steadily since 1990, exclusive breastfeeding initiation rates have shown little or no increase over that same period of time. Similarly, 6 months after birth, the proportion of infants who are exclusively breastfed has increased at a much slower rate than that of infants who receive mixed feedings.

Now I don't think parents are oblivious to this information it's just that they have to make trade-offs and sometimes that means less breastfeeding for the newborn. However, some parents are looking for a way out, and it could very well be that President Bush has shown them the way in his State of the Union address:

President Bush called on Congress to work with him to achieve significant immigration reform that protects the homeland by controlling the borders; serves America's economy by matching a willing worker with a willing employer when no American is willing to fill the job.

It just so happens that in California, (note: The San Francisco Bay Area has the highest number of plastic surgeons per capita in the world) which is part of the Western Region of the US which has the highest proportion of breast augmentation in the country (here are some statistics and before/after photos) and it should be noted that with breast augmentation comes a 3x-5x increase in lactation problems, (more here) that an entrepreneur has mined a neglected practice and modernized its delivery for our times:

Robert Feinstock, 65, the owner of the Beverly Hills, Calif., company, believes his business is one of the few in the United States that offers wet nurses, or women who suckle other peoples' children. He says he provides a needed service to mothers who want their children to thrive on breast milk but for whatever reason are unable to perform the task themselves.

Not to be outdone, the Chinese are fast on our heels in offering the services of a wetnurse.

The Beijing Youth Daily reports that a wet nurse service has opened in the city of Yangzhou, in the eastern Jiangsu Province, aimed at working women and those concerned about their figure.

The service involves one of the 13 wet nurses, aged between 25 and 30, coming to the clients home to breast feed the family's baby.

All the wet nurses are healthy, and reached middle-school or above. The company provided them with accommodation and a special diet, guaranteeing the quality of their milk. They get paid 50 yuan, or about US$ six a day.

While we don't frequently see ads for Wet Nurses on Monster.com this is a practice with long historical roots. Here's the Jewish code, and here is advice from the 1st Century Rome on the hiring of a wet-nurse which you can compare to the contempory advice offered to couples in India: (highlights only)

• Physical and psychological status of wet-nurse should be taken in consideration as they influence quality and quantity of milk
• The wet-nurse should be identical in varna (of similar caste),
• Young (Middle aged)- because very young woman does not have any affection for child and old woman can not withstand troubles as well as her milk also is not nutritious to the child
• Humble or modest,
• Not possessing deficient or accessory body parts
• Non-addict
• Beautiful
• Having alive male child
• Not habituated of sleeping over excrements or used to clean the faeces etc. immediately
• Not married in low caste
• Pious
• The wet-nurse should use daily purifying measures (internal and external)
• Having hatred from impiousness or uncleanliness
• Well-behaved or urbane
• Free from fickleness
• Non-greedy
• Neither too obese nor too thin
• Not having too long or protuberant lips
• The wet-nurse should be Syama (dark complexioned) because the woman of this complexion possess profuse milk.
• She should take bath daily and wear white and clean dress.
• She should not be cranky or greedy.
• She should not speak ill of others and should not indulge in bad activities
• Her breasts should be well shaped and nipples well-formed and protruding. The breasts should not be upturned or loose and hanging and should be neither too big nor too small. If the breasts are upturned, the baby's front teeth become protruded. If the breasts are large or hanging, they may press the nostrils and the baby may not be able to breathe well.
• She should regularly apply sandalwood paste to the breasts.
• She should wear medicines belonging to Prajasthapana group, namely, Aindri, Brahmi, Durva, Guduci, Haritaki and Katuki in the form of necklace or thread around the waist or as bracelets.

Of course, one could look for more culturally appropriate advice from the LaLeche League found in their guide to Wet-Nursing and Cross Nursing. You can always count on parents to determine what is best for their children, even if they have to reach back to practices that have been dormant in the West for over a century. Is there any doubt that parents would also look to the future for ways to help their children.