Last night my sister and I were babysitting our baby brother who is 6 monthes old. He would not stop crying no matter what we did so my sister who is 16 pulled up her top and let him suck her nipple and he calmed right down. Is this a common practice?

I see from the answers above that most people think it is weird, but my wife's sister used to do it with our babies and neither my wife nor I got upset about it. We used to think it was a funny and a novel way to calm the infant.

i think its amusing...and as long as your mother didnt mind theres nothing wrong with it....again nursing is natural....and thats what he wanted....it wasnt done in a sexual way, but in a comforting way. I on the other hand would have been hurt...its a very special thing a mother and child share.

Aw, that's cute and sweet of her, but I don't think she should do it, mainly because the baby's parents might get extremely upset. Some people are weird about things like that. It's also possible for the sucking, if done repeatedly, to stimulate your sister's milk production despite not having had a baby.

Hello to all,

In the first aspect what I had written earlier was a natural thing and not a sexual incest of any sort. It is just the way of life in which we deal things in our life. It is not my eagerness to incest or anything that which is related to perverseness. I really have the virtue of dealing with what is good and bad. My judgement in this aspect was just the way of motherly instinct and not any sexual misconduct.

This is a natural thing in this world and in certain eastern European countries as well as Asia and India. But as for now in the current trend, people in the European countries and Americas might have forgotten that and that is why there is discard of the older generation by the younger generation and you call it as a free world (nonsense).

In counties like India this is a natural thing. Even my mother and I did not feel that I had done anything wrong in giving motherly comfort and breastfeed my siblings for reassurance. This is utterly a maternal instinct, which is very much natural and it does not matter even if I had children of my own or not. Motherly instinct is universal and it does not require any Holy book to explain it ; rather it requires the use of common sense, affection and love.

Now you would have seen an Indian woman breastfeeding a deer cub in the state of Rajasthan and also another woman breastfeeding her 10-day old calf in India.

Still today it is a common practice in my country and in the Asian region to breastfeed other woman's babies and this is given a judgmental approach for the purpose of survival. Normally in India, women who are living in the remote regions do still breastfeed their children till the age of 7 or 8 years and that the when the nearest hospital is about 15 to 20 kilometers away from home.

It is the best option to breastfeed the children till they reach the age of 7 years at a time when it is time for maturity of their body immune system. Somehow the medical fraternity in the whole world is very much ignorant of this and they give unwanted reasons which amount to the rubbish.

As it is very much the rule of survival, which very much supports breastfeeding. Also I read about one particular story in a magazine ---Reader's Digest, wherein a small ship got wrecked and that the few people who traveled in that got to safety by way of a life boat without much support in the form of food items ( which normally a life boat would contain) and that this woman hit upon an idea (as she had milk in her breasts) and she breastfed all the people without any hesitation and saved the life of the people. This was reported some 12 years back in the Reader's Digest for reference.

Normally when the immune system developmentally and immunologically are not even ready until a certain age where in a child's immune system doesn't mature until they are about seven or 8, it is better for mothers to breastfeed their children.

For me in my case, I breastfed my siblings because they needed somebody to comfort them and give them reassurance or else they will grow up to be a mentally retarded (in certain ways.) In my house, it would be either me or my mother who would support the kids and that even I had breastfed the children of my eldest cousin sister and brother. So it is not much of a problem for me and it does not matter in any aspect.

Now that i am married and I am a mother of 4 kids with the eldest (boys) being 9 and 10 and now they are weaned completely with the rest of the 2 kids (a boy and a girl) still breastfeeding and doing well the same. Breastfeeding till the age of 7 or 8, enhances the mental and the physical capability of the children. The more we are able to breastfeed the kids, the more stronger they would be.

if any reference is needed then it is as mentioned below

"Why I still breastfeed my four-year-old"

Friends may think it's freaky, says Annalisa Barbieri, but why should I stop when it's good for my daughter?

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

the site address is as mentioned below

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/why-i-still-breastfeed-my-fouryearold-400171.html

any replies are welcome in a more positive way

kr7830@gmail.com

Does your mother nurse him?

Your Sister is only 16 and shew let her baby Brother use her breast as a Pacifier (Dummy) If she was one of your Mum's Friends I could see how it would be a good idea and if the friend was so close your mum got her to babysit it would be a Good idea but as they are Brother and Sister I think it not only wird but wrong, what if the baby wants to do it when he next cries and his Mum is there, she will be upset that he won't take her breast and wants your sisters breast, It might havew seemed like a good idea but your sister didn't think it through.

Yes this is a common practice and this is a motherly instinct and a pacifying feeling of a woman.

In my family, I am the eldest one and when i was 15 years old and that, when my two younger siblings (boys) who were just 3 months and 10 months of age, they would sometimes cry for and would not stop crying for no matter whatever we did to calm them. At that time, I decided all of a sudden and I pulled up my shirt and held them to my breasts and at an instant they started sucking at my breast. At that instant i felt like as I am their mother and this did really stop them from crying. In the beginning I had started to produce little drops of milk from my breasts and a week later it was a real rush of milk, when I enjoyed breastfeeding my siblings.

Eventually, when i spoke to my mother about this, she was surprised and happy about this and also she cooperated with me on this matter.

At that time, there used to be any one of us with the kids (either myself or my mother) and would spend time with the kids and taking care of them and naturally the kids became used to me being with them as a mother and sometimes they would come to me for motherly comfort and I would breastfeed them for reassurance.

This is a natural thing in this world and in certain eastern european countries as well as Asia and India.

kr7830@gmail.com

that's cute ! :)

Yes my mother does nurse and my sister packes a pretty big set. He seemed to take really good.

Is it a common practice today? Doubt it. It was a common throughout history, when women were held with respect as mothers of families, and not today as a money earning man in a skirt. What your sister did is absolutely normal.

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