A mother was left traumatized after she found her friend breastfeeding her baby without her consent, stating that she now struggles to trust people around her child.
Parenting is one of the hardest yet most rewarding things somebody can accomplish in their life, as having offspring is a full-time job.
One thing that can ease the burden is having family and friends offering to help look after the baby from time to time, though apparently, some can take it too far.
A Malaysian woman was left completely shocked after she walked in on her friend breastfeeding her child, and she documented her thoughts on TikTok.
According to Asia One, the woman had left her child, Haider, in the care of her friend while she got herself prepared for a gathering.
In the TikTok, translated from Malay to English, the stunned mother said: "At the time, 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. I didn’t expect that she could do such a thing.
"But suddenly while I was carrying those things, I saw that she was, like, doing something at the back in an open hall. Turns out, she was breastfeeding Haider."
Naturally, the mother confronted her friend who claimed that she was breastfeeding the infant because he was crying, even though he had just been fed.
The angry mother continued: "So I couldn’t accept her excuse and I don’t know … I’ll be haunted by this incident. Which mother can accept her baby being directly breastfed by someone else while the mother herself has breastmilk?"
You would think that being caught breastfeeding a child that isn't yours on one occasion would be enough to stop somebody from doing it again, but this ordeal wasn't over yet.
"She was caught not once, but twice," the mother continued. "I caught her breastfeeding my baby during the first time. The second time, it was my mother [who caught her]. Now, I’m having a tough time shaking it off my mind."
The woman admitted: "It’s difficult for me to trust other people now. I’m very disheartened. 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."
It's safe to say that people in the comments were horrified by the story, as one person wrote: "Don't trust anyone after this," and a second added: "New fear unlocked."
While it's all but unheard of today, prior to the existence of baby bottles and formula, those mothers who couldn't or didn't want to breastfeed their own child were able to use a wet nurse, which was another lactating woman to feed their child on their behalf.
In modern times the practice has pretty much died out with mothers preferring the safer method of either expressing their own milk for their baby or using formula if they are not breastfeeding themselves.
It goes without saying that the mother won't be leaving her son unattended with any friends for a while.