Mom Reveals She Caught Friend Nursing Her Infant Son On Two Separate Occasions
She now feels traumatized after the incident.
When it comes to raising and taking care of a baby, there are certain personal choices that parents make. Every family is different, and it is up to them to decide which option is right for their baby, including an infant being breastfed.
So, it's understandable that one mother was shocked after learning that her friend had decided to feed her son without her prior permission. In a TikTok video, the mom shared the incident and appeared visibly disturbed by what she had seen happen.
She caught her friend nursing her infant son without her permission.
In the video, a mother from Malaysia, Afieqah Hasanah revealed that she was traumatized after catching her friend, in the act, breastfeeding her baby without permission. If that wasn't shocking enough, Hasanah added that it happened more than once.
“I didn’t expect that she could do such a thing,” Hasanah said, describing the “disheartening” incident in her video, per the translation from AsiaOne. She explained that the incident happened in early May while she was with her son, Haider, at a family event.
At one point, Hasanah was busy carrying things for her family's event, and with her hands full, she decided to leave Haider in the care of one of her close friends until she got her bearings together. "I was busy carrying things, and when I arrived, she asked me for Haider, so I just gave him [to her] because she was someone close to me,” she said.
However, while Hasanah's back was turned, her friend decided that Haider was hungry and took it upon herself to nurse the child, despite not asking Hasanah or offering to feed the child a snack.
"Suddenly while I was carrying those things, I saw that she was doing something at the back in an open hall,” she revealed. “Turns out, she was breastfeeding Haider.”
Immediately, Hasanah confronted the woman, who tried to explain that she had no other option but to breastfeed Haider since the little boy had been "crying," which she thought meant he was hungry. The excuse didn't fly with Hasanah, who found the entire thing suspicious since she had fed her son not too long before giving him to her friend.
“I couldn’t accept her excuse and I don’t know … I’ll be haunted by this incident,” Hasanah remarked, horrified. “Which mother can accept her baby being directly breastfed by someone else while the mother herself has breastmilk?”
If that wasn't enough, Hasanah shared that after confronting her friend about it, and essentially telling her that doing something like that wasn't okay, she ended up catching her nursing her son sometime later that same day.
“It’s difficult for me to trust other people now,” she said, adding that the entire debacle has been hard for her to let go of. “I take good care of my children, ensuring that nobody randomly kisses or hugs them because I’m afraid of them getting infected by diseases.”
Women are warned not to cross-nurse their babies because of the potential risk.
According to Women's Health, while the FDA doesn't prohibit the act of cross-nursing, women are warned that feeding a baby with milk from a source that isn't its mother is risky, and can even lead to the baby being exposed to various diseases.
"Human milk is a bodily fluid, and cross-nursing can spread diseases,” women's health expert Jennifer Wider told the publication. Some of those include hepatitis, HIV, and other STDs. Certain medications, caffeine, and alcohol can also be transmitted through the milk and affect your baby.
“While you may pay close attention to what you put in your body, other women may not,” Wider continued, adding that cross-nursing can also confuse a baby and make it less likely that they will latch onto their mother when it's time for them to be nursed.
Ultimately, the decision on whether or not to engage in cross-nursing is a personal one, and unfortunately, Hasanah wasn't allowed that choice. Decisions such as that should be based on a thorough consideration of both the potential benefits and risks involved, as well as the specific circumstances and preferences of the individuals involved.
Nia Tipton is a Brooklyn-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.