A mom is receiving a lot of praises for her selfless act. She had no qualms breastfeeding an abandoned baby who was left in a box on the streets of China. She did it right in public and in front of a crowd.
People's China Daily reports that the baby, a girl, was wrapped in a baby blanket inside a box. There was a bag of milk next to her, along with 100-yuan or about $15. However, there was no other indication as to how long she has been abandoned in the corner of a street in Xianyang City. The baby's cries were heard by some passersby.
Soon enough, a crowd gathered around the baby and some tried to appease her cries to no avail. This prompted a woman to step up and started breastfeeding her in full view of everyone. The baby finally calmed down. As the mom was feeding the infant, the crowd stuffed money in the baby's clothes, Daily Mail reports.
Authorities eventually came and the baby was then turned over to the city's social workers. They suspect that, while unharmed, the baby has cerebral palsy. She will be undergoing further medical examinations. She was determined to be a few day's old only.
Young woman breastfeeds abandoned baby, praised as 'most kindhearted mother' in NW China https://t.co/IivmXYm9cy pic.twitter.com/9lYYudPi9x
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) May 16, 2016
Netizens who got wind of the story of the selfless mom lauded what she did and called her "the most beautiful mother." However, some observed that the mom's behavior was actually reckless. "Had the baby been abandoned due to a serious infectious disease, then this mother and her child would be exposed to the disease too," one commenter said on the Chinese news site 163.
Unfortunately, cases of child abandonment are common in China and one way for the government to address this is to build several abandonment centers so that the infants are not dumped on the streets, per The Shanghaiist. Some parents choose to abandon their baby due to a disease or disability, but others also decide to do this due to unwanted pregnancies or getting pregnant out of wedlock.
Did you think the mom who jumped to help the baby was reckless? Share your thoughts in the comments!
