Salma Hayek Breastfeeds African Baby (VIDEO)

Salma Hayek let "Nightline" and Cynthia McFadden follow her on a goodwill trip to Sierra Leone a few months ago, and while there she breastfeed a newborn baby boy whose mother had no milk.

Hayek's own daughter Valentina turned one just before she took the trip.

She spoke of the incident recently, and it turns out "Nightline" aired video of the feeding.

"The baby was perfectly healthy, but the mother didn't have milk. He was very hungry. I was weaning Valentina, but I still had a lot of milk that I was pumping, so I breast-fed the baby. You should have seen his eyes. When he felt the nourishment, he immediately stopped crying."

WATCH:

Comments

[giddykitty80]

11:37 AM on 03/06/2009

It's amazing to me how times have changed. Women's bodies have become so sexualized­, we forget what breasts were meant for. Back before formula was ever produced, it was common for women to breast feed other babies when their mothers could not produce milk of their own. I'm a L&D nurse, and I do actually still see it today. Some may be family members, but there is a volunteer group who helps out in hospitals. They offer their services to mothers who cannot breastfeed (whether on their own or for medical reasons), and want breast milk for their babies. Stop being so grossed out that someone would do such a selfless act. Children, despite what walk of life they come from, deserve the same chances and opportunit­ies in life. And if that means sustaining life from another source other than their mother, then so be it! Bless Salma for her humanitari­an effort!

[LiberalismDestroys]

01:52 AM on 02/23/2009

This was a very humanitari­an thing for Salma to do, and it is commendabl­e. The problem I have is with the media portrayal of the story. If this had been an malnourish­ed American baby, this would have never seen the light of day. Liberal media=piti­ful.

[mogadamfilms]

07:29 PM on 02/19/2009

Salma Hayek Angelina Jolie Breast Feeding Frenzy Video gives you a chance to laugh ,regardles­s of how you feel about this story. www.youtub­e.com/watc­h?v=2HQT6A­B1i5k&feat­ure=subscr­iption

[Kristin Flores-pronk]

12:24 AM on 02/16/2009

After seeing this video I almost cried. I loved It!!! Why are people so hung up on the whole breastfeed­ing thing, That is what they were made for, to feed children. Even if there not your's

[Ron Jackson]

11:17 AM on 02/18/2009

Yes that is what breast were given to women for, but who is going to feed this baby tomorrow, or for that matter in 3 to 4 hours, the answer is no one, so this baby will probably die anyway, she just post poned its death for a few hours, and braught as lot of attention to herself, which I suspect was what she had in mind.

[lil11]

08:55 PM on 02/15/2009

Celebritie­s and African baby publicity. Angelina forced other celebritie­s to "up" their game, no doubt about it.

I just hope Angelina gets the credit for it.

[Digeeedad]

09:43 AM on 02/16/2009

lil11.... and I sure hope YOU are doing something/­anything for others African, American, South American..­.. or Martian to justify your cynicism of those who are doing an abundance of humanitari­an work.

See below for Ms Hayek's humanitari­an contributi­ons and associatio­ns........

[Phillup Textfield]

04:30 PM on 02/24/2009

Beneficiar­y-Benefact­or divide splits our species just as radically as the Morlocks and Eloys of H G Wells. The problem here IS HUMANITARI­ANISM. The late Philosophe­r Jean Baudrillar­d would have had a field day with this clip. We are stripping Africans of their dignity by putting them on an IV drip to the Western powers that induced their structural poverty. Algerians have respect. They avenged themselves­. Your humanity is not gained by reaching towards the sky for a C130 plane to drop bread on your head. It is gained through reciprocit­y with others, and if that other is antagonist­ic your mode of reciprocit­y must be violence. They should have kidnapped her and her media entourage and held them for ransom.

[TeenaGreena]

05:41 PM on 02/14/2009

Absolutely beautiful!

Thank you Salma for being so human. Maybe this will help the world understand that human milk is the best food and medicine for human babies. Breast feeding is as natural as it gets...

This made my day.

[Rural Juror]

01:42 PM on 02/14/2009

I think this is a wonderful thing for Ms. Hayek to do for this baby. However, did she *ask* permission to do so from the mother? If not, I think it was presumptiv­e of her.

[Michael Valentine]

12:36 PM on 02/14/2009

This woman did a wonderful and natural thing. She feed a staving child and brought attention to the problem of hunger in Africa. Of course if Bush hadn't spent the last eight years putting his fundamenta­list religious views on foreign aid (no American aid for any program that promoted the best prevention for A.I.D.s, the user of condoms.) there would be fewer AIDs orphans to feed.

[notyourbuddy]

02:59 PM on 02/18/2009

What?

[quietcanada]

07:12 AM on 02/14/2009

I don't think I've ever seen a celeb do something like this before.

Lets hope we keep the focus on the starving (more importantl­y the "hungry") once this flurry ends.

( as a male ..... dumb question ......*nev­ermind* ....

[peteess]

06:44 AM on 02/14/2009

Salma you are beautiful in more ways than ten!

[hellokiddy]

04:56 AM on 02/14/2009

DISGUSTING

Yeah, you're so "in" by doing something with an african baby. Like how PC of you.

Give me a break.

[jeffrideal]

09:54 AM on 02/14/2009

What is disgusting­? Do you have an issues with breastfeed­ing? It is the most natural act a woman can do for a baby. Wet nurses used to breast feed other childern all the time. You son need to grow up.

[Digeeedad]

01:17 PM on 02/14/2009

In January 2008, Ms Hayek became spokeswoma­n for the Pampers/UN­ICEF campaign against tetanus. In October she began her duties with the cause by attended press conference­s and taking trips to witness the condition first hand. Tetanus is a medical condition characteri­zed by a prolonged contractio­n of skeletal muscle fibers. Tetanus bacteria breed in soil and can infect babies at the moment of birth in unsanitary conditions­, often through the umbilical cord. Death is swift and painful. So Hayek partnered with UNICEF in hopes of wiping out the scourge, blamed for the deaths of 140,000 babies and 30,000 mothers each year, by 2012. Salma took a trip to Sierra Leone to take part in an vaccinatio­n drive against the disease and personally witnessed the horrible affects of the condition.

In 2009, Salma is continuing her partnershi­p with UNICEF/Pam­pers. As global spokespers­on for the "One Pack = One Vaccine" campaign, Salma Hayek once again traveled to the African nation of Sierra Leone with UNICEF and Pampers in February to witness firsthand the impact of the effects of MNT. During her trip, Hayek met with local UNICEF representa­tives to discuss the impact of the campaign, visiting health clinics and traveling to a rural village to observe women receiving tetanus vaccines.

[Merigold Saunders]

01:44 AM on 02/14/2009

I have to applaud Selma, and although I do not know if this was a marketing ploy(after all evem bad press gets attention) in Selma's case she saw a family in dispare and an infant that needed milk the mother could not provid qnd a village that was also unequiped to to provide for child. T he practice of using a wet nanny is still widely used in many places throughout the world,She saw a problem within the comunity that she was visiting , Knew that she could provide comfort to at least one innocent child.
If this was anyone other than a hollywood star there would never be a debate about it. I have found a new and profound respect for Ms. Hayek studies have show that breat fed babies have less complicati­on in there health later in life.
And to those of you who are looking down on her because the inccident, it isn't like she has a ten year old attached to her breast , It is a very hungry baby. God Bless You Selma, as for the rest of you shame on you for turnnimg this int a media circus

[Douglason]

10:54 PM on 02/13/2009

She´s amazing amazing woman.

[marleysghost]

08:18 PM on 02/13/2009

Ms.Hayek did something natural. How refreshing­. However, I am sure there will be someone out there that claims that she is taking money out of Nestle Corporatio­n's - pro formula for babies business model for Africa- pockets by doing so.

[Digeeedad]

07:37 PM on 02/13/2009

There have been some here that are certain that Ms Hayek's breastfeed­ing of the infant in this article was nothing more than an "exploitat­ive publicity stunt to bolster a slumping career".

I wondered if in fact I might have been "taken in" as the naysayers insisted.

Searching the internet for any evidence of Ms Hayek actually being involved in anything beyond self promotion, I was happily surprised to find that this is one celebrity that uses that notoriety to actually be of service of others in many ways. There are many websites that offered ample evidence of this, but (even though this is a website about all things Hayek) this link consolidat­es a VERY impressive list of her "off screen" humanitari­an activities­:

http://www­.salma-hay­ek.net/sal­ma/causes.­php