Strangers step in to help breastfeed baby after young mother taken ill in hospital

Nearly 1,000 women offered to help as wet nurses for the baby

Ronja Wiedenbeck with her baby boy Rio (Facebook)

A young mother has praised the help she received from five strangers who stepped in to breastfeed her baby after she was taken ill.

Ronja Wiedenbeck, 26, put out an appeal for help on a Facebook page for help with breastfeeding her 11-month-old son when she was taken ill in Truro and underwent treatment involving morphine, which meant she could not give him her own milk.

Despite having frozen reserves of her own breast milk, Ms Wiedenbeck’s baby Rio is not comfortable feeding from a cup, ITV News reported, and the mother said she cried when she released the response from other women to help her following her appeal.

Nearly 1,000 women offered to help and a total of five women were picked to wet nurse Ms Weidenbeck’s baby while she was in hospital. The women had all been previously CRB checked and were accompanied either by Ms Weidenbeck or by a trusted adult.

“I’m so grateful and totally overwhelmed with the response to the message. It’s such a loving and selfless act and incredibly heart warming to see,” she told the broadcaster.

“So thankful to my other angel mama's who came to my rescue to nurse my son whilst I was unable to do so due to being on unsafe medication in hospital. The support between us breastfeeding mothers has been incredible and just goes to show that where there is a will, there is a way!” she wrote on Facebook.

Ms Wiedenbeck, her family and friends have now launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £200 for the women who wet nursed Rio to say thank you and pay for their travel and other expenses.