A flight attendant is being praised for going above and beyond her job’s description after she stepped in to help out a new mother by breastfeeding the passenger’s hungry, crying baby mid-flight.
Philippines Airlines crew member Patrisha Organo’s motherly instincts kicked in after hearing a crying infant, “a cry that will make you want to do anything to help.”
“I approached the mother and asked if everything’s okay, I tried to tell her to feed her hungry child,” Organo described in a viral Facebook post. “Teary-eyed, she told me that she ran out of formula milk.”
READ MORE: ‘It felt like we were going rogue,’ says mom who let friend breastfeed her baby
The flight attendant described other passengers becoming restless, staring at the crying child.
“I felt a pinch in my heart. There’s no formula milk onboard. I thought to myself, there’s only one thing I could offer and that’s my own milk,” Organo said.
So the mother of a nine-month-old offered.
Speaking with Smart Parenting, the flight attendant said the baby’s mother had been at the airport since 9 p.m. Monday, while the flight did not depart until 5:10 a.m. Tuesday.
Another flight attendant assisted Organo, the mother and child to the gallery to feed the baby.
“The baby started rooting, she was so hungry. I saw the relief on her mother’s eyes,” Organo wrote.” I continued to feed the baby until she fell asleep. I escorted her back to her seat and just before I left, the mother sincerely thanked me.”
Organo’s post has been shared over 23,000 times while being liked nearly 120,000 more.
“Salute to you and all great mothers,” reads a comment.
READ MORE: How one woman’s breastfeeding trouble may have helped countless others
“I love how there’s no judgement between the 2 moms. Formula feeding mom and breastfeeding mom both know a fed baby is the most important,” reads another.
While the vast majority of comments were supportive of the flight attendant, a few people questioned the woman’s actions.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is strange?” Patricia Valentina asked.
“Heroic act but if it were my baby I would not let a stranger feed her,” Holli Davis chimed in.
“I’m sorry but the mother who forgot the formula human error or not…. how could she be sure of this women, a stranger… things are passed in breastmilk. Illness, medications, illegal drugs… I’m sure the drugs can be counted out because of her job hopefully but you have no idea what’s in the woman’s breastmilk… It’s a nice story and wonderful to offer but i just don’t think i could do that with my child that’s a big risk,” Kourtney Anthony wrote.