Salma Hayek Breastfeeding An African Baby Boy

A friend who knows that another woman once breast fed my son just sent me this story about actress and UNICEF spokesperson Salma Hayek cross nursing a baby in Sierra Leone.

Hayek was in the West African country in September as part of her involvement in the fight against tetanus, one reason Sierra Leone has the highest infant and child death rate in the world.

But I'm guessing her humanitarian efforts won't draw as much attention as the "Nightline " television footage that showed Hayek breast feeding.

“There is a close enough view that I could count swallows!” exclaimed Tanya on Motherwear’s BreastFeeding Blog, who was “blown away” that the scene was shown on network television.

Whatever her motive, Salma Hayek used her breasts as nature intended: She fed a hungry baby. For that she should be commended. If she also raises awareness that breastfeeding helps build immunity, more power to her.

“In fact doctors there say that because malnutrition is so rampant they would like to see women in Sierra Leone breast-feed for two years,” wrote Kimberly Caplan on ABCnews.com.

“But such behavior is rare. The reason? Men urge their wives to quickly stop breast-feeding because of cultural mores that forbid s*xual intercourse with breast-feeding women."

Salma Hayek breastfeeds a stranger's baby in Africa after the mother runs out of milk

Hollywood was agog this morning after From Dusk Till Dawn actress Salma Hayek breastfed a stranger's baby during visit to war-torn Sierra Leone.

The 42-year-old, who has a one-year-old daughter Valentina, was touring a hospital when she came across a mother who was unable to feed her baby boy.

Although TV cameras were there from ABC's Nightline news programme, the actress did not hesitate.

Salma Hayek said: 'The baby was perfectly healthy, but the mother did not have any milk. He was very hungry - I was weaning my daughter Valentina, but I still had a lot of milk, so I breast-fed the baby.'

She added: 'It was amazing because he's really looking at me and he's very little. My baby is one year so she can suck a lot harder.'

Salma Hayek later admitted she worried about betraying her daughter, but she added: 'I thought about it, am I being disloyal to my child by giving my milk away?