Mum ‘shocked’ by friend who breastfed her weaned baby without asking

An angered woman took to the parenting forum Mumsnet to reveal that her trusted friend had secretly breastfed her 10-month-old daughter while babysitting.

Known on the site as @chandie, the mother-of-two claimed that her friend had “crossed the line” when looking after her as an emergency favour.

She explained that her infant was not exclusively breastfed and instead enjoyed a diet consisting of breast milk from a bottle and some soft foods.

But in just a two-and-a-half-hour period of babysitting, the woman’s friend decided to feed the baby from her own breast without permission.

The unhappy mother claimed: “When I returned, my friend had said to me ‘sorry but I did feed her, she just seemed really unsettled and like she needed to nurse’.”

She opined: “I was shocked, and asked why she would do that. If she’s hungry give her the food I’d left or her bottle.”

Claiming that the baby “wanted comfort”, the friend was challenged by the mother of the baby who proclaimed that she “wasn’t even gone that long”.

The Mumsnet user added that her main annoyance was that the baby had been partially weaned off of breast milk and was moving onto more solid foods.

What do you think about breastfeeding another person’s child? Let us know in the comments below.

She proclaimed: “Now, I’m not against breastfeeding, I fed my son until age three. But I don’t want someone else feeding her and shouldn’t have to explicitly explain that before leaving her with someone who can breastfeed surely?”

Other mums took to the comments section to share their thoughts with divided opinions.

One person wrote: “I wouldn’t mind a good friend feeding one of mine in an emergency and if they wouldn’t take anything else. At 10 months with lots of options, I think it’s a bit odd.”

Another argued: “I’d personally have no issue with it but it’s weird she did it without asking. I’d only do it or expect it to be done if discussed as an option beforehand. It feels very odd otherwise.”

Some had stronger views on the incident, with one angered Mumsnet user commenting: “I find this weird. It almost feels like a power play. It wasn’t a necessity; she did it just because you couldn’t stop her.”

Another agreed that it was “super weird” and claimed that they “wouldn’t feed someone else’s baby”, not even their sister’s.