A quantitative study on Muslim milk mother’s understanding of the Islamic concept of wet nursing

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Author: Hamjah S.H.; Rahim N.C.A.; Hashim N.M.; Bahari N.; Zuliza Mohd K.; Majid L.A.; Saidon R.; Illias M.Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85135134380&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0265592&partnerID=40&md5=ee05951e01e3d20249c4ce8e8974063f

Background The practice of wet nursing or breastfeeding another woman’s child in Malaysia, especially among Muslim mothers, is on the rise. This is due to the emergence of public awareness of the benefits of breast milk to children. However, it is claimed that some mothers do not have a clear understanding of the Islamic rulings concerning wet nursing, especially those related to mahram (prohibition to marry), nasab (lineage) and inheritance. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the level of understanding of the legal implications of wet nursing and the factors influencing the practice among Muslim mothers who have practiced breastfeeding. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted between January and July 2019. This study was conducted with 100 Muslim mothers who had breastfed others’ child (ren) in Selangor. Data were obtained using a validated questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.8) and processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results The results show that the majority of the respondents understand the basic Islamic rulings on wet nursing, especially on the persons prohibited to marry, conditions and feeding method. However, the respondents need to further understand the rulings related to nasab (lineage), guardianship and inheritance involving the milk child. Various factors that have influenced wet nursing in society were also found. Conclusions This study has significant implications for the need to have more activities to create awareness and enhance the understanding related to wet nursing among Muslim women in society. Therefore, more research studies related to wet nursing and the impact of the practice should be conducted to offer better solutions to society. Copyright: © 2022 Hanin Hamjah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.