When she’s not getting up at an obscenely early hour to present GMTV, Kate Garraway is getting up at an obscenely early hour to look after her two-year-old daughter Darcey. Somehow, she has also managed to find the time to make Other People’s Breast Milk, a look at the complex, emotive and controversial world of breastfeeding. Specifically, she investigates the pros and cons of cross-feeding, breast-milk donation and wet-nursing by meeting some of the growing numbers of women who share each other’s milk. The people Kate meets include sisters who cross-feed their babies; women who are able to breast-feed even though they have never been pregnant; surrogate mothers who produce two gallons of milk a week for donation; and a cancer sufferer who believes breast milk has cured his condition.

Here, Garraway talks about why she wanted to make this programme, and reveals some of the extraordinary stories she uncovered along the way.

What’s the programme about?
It’s a look at breastfeeding from a whole host of different viewpoints. It looks at everything from communities where people breastfeed each others’ babies to breast milk donation and wet-nursing, and also examines attitudes to breast-feeding in this country. And I go and meet women who are able to produce breast-milk even though they’ve never been pregnant, a mother who believes breast milk saved her child’s life, and a man who takes breast milk as a cure for his cancer. Read more & comment »