I was not sure what a Wet Nurse even was  until I was reading the description on the
painting  A  Sunday on La Grande Jatte by George Seurat. There is a
women who is sitting with her back towards us sitting by an old woman holding a parasol. 
The description stated that the woman with her back towards us was a Wet Nurse. I could
not figure out what a Wet Nurse was so I started to do research and realized that Wet
Nursing has been around for a very long time. There are books out on Wet Nursing that I
have found to be interesting and informative along with Web sites with more
information. 

I even had an experience with Wet Nursing and did not realize that it was
called Wet Nursing.  I had my second child and  decided to nurse her and my sister had a
child that she was nursing.  My family did not think my milk was helping my daughter gain
weight so one day when I was upstairs  my sister tried to nurse my daughter. When I
found out I was very upset at the thought of my sister nursing my  daughter.  I mean this
was my child and I was nursing her I did not need any help from anyone. At that time I
thought it was sick of my sister to try and nurse my child. My daughter would not nurse
from her because she was not use to my sister. I look back at that day and realize after
reading about Wet Nursing that I was not acting responsible and thinking of my daughter's
well being. Had I known  that there was such thing called Wet Nursing I think I would not
have acted or thought the way I did.

Wet nursing  has been around for a very long time.  Wet Nursing was necessary in the past for babies to live.   In my search on Wet Nursing I found that it went as far back as baby Moses.When the princess found baby Moses floating in the Nile she asked Miriam to find a wet nurse for him. Shakespeare's Juliet had a wet nurse until she was three years old. King Tut even had a Wet Nurse and she was buried by him.  Although wet nursing is still practiced today (see below), it is not as acceptible as it once was.

Here are some sites with more information on wet nursing

A Social History of Wet Nursing in America: From Breast to Bottle by Golden, Janet 

A Wet Nurse For *King Tut*  Site includes postings in response to the article.
 
The Baby Net
On this web sight they even have a discussion on wet nurses. 

Goats as Wet Nurses--This short article is from THE PENNY MAGAZINE  of  July 18, 1835
 

Here is a short bib of books on wet nursing--
 

A Social History of Wet Nursing in America : From Breast to Bottle
                   by Janet Lynne Golden
 

Selling Mother's Milk : The Wet-Nursing Business in France
                   by George Sussman
 

Wet Nursing : A History from Antiquity to the Present (Family,
                  Sexuality and Social Relations in Past Times)
                  by Valerie A. Fildes