Woman who opened up about breastfeeding sister's baby hits back at trolls
From dropping round dinners, helping out with the cleaning or running errands here and there - it's very common to see families help each other out when someone gives birth.
However, one woman has taken the idea of a helping hand that one step further after sharing that she breastfeeds her sister's baby so she can 'get stuff done'.
Social media star Emily Boazman took to TikTok to reveal that she'd actually been breastfeeding her sister Katelyn's child to give her a much-needed break from the chaos of life with a newborn.
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Emily, 33, says she didn’t have a conversation with Katelyn, 36, before breastfeeding her baby - and it was something that came naturally.
She explained: "I started seeing that she was struggling and I just said ‘I’ll nurse her’.
"It wasn’t like a whole big conversation. It was very natural."
Emily was widely praised for her selfless act. with one TikTok user commenting: "I nursed for a total stranger in the emergency room once. I could see the stress in their eyes and asked if I could help them."
Another wrote: "My mum was born in 1931. The next door neighbour had a baby a few days after and unfortunately died in childbirth.
"My grandmother nursed both my mom and the neighbour's baby. Her dad would just bring her over when she needed to eat. She and my mom were best friends their entire lives."
While a third chimed in: "[On] my sister's 30th birthday she got really drunk and I was nursing my son still so I nursed my niece that night for her."
Others credited Emily for normalising the idea of shared nursing, with one user quoting the phrase 'it takes a village'.
They wrote: "I’m so happy to see positive comments. This is normal. Wet nursing is normal. It’s part of the whole takes a village, we used to all be together."
Someone else noted: "It used to be considered perfectly normal so I don’t see why we can’t see it that way now. This is such a kind act."
However, it seems some people online took issue with Emily breastfeeding her sister's child but she's since shared her response to trolls who disapprove of her decision.
"It's special," she said of her relationship to Katelyn. "We're so close. It's not weird to us. Somebody feeding your baby a bottle seems weird."
Emily continued: "People will say 'it's disgusting' or that it is 'creepy as hell'.
"It was the norm hundreds of years ago. We had wet nurses. It's looked at as weird when it was the most natural thing. It's just feeding a baby."
Katelyn shared similar sentiments, saying the situation couldn't be any more 'natural' to her, explaining: "I had no doubts about Emily breastfeeding. It feels completely normal to me.
"We're sisters, we're close. It's like she's breastfeeding her own child, honestly."
The stay-at-home mum carried on: "Anyone who has had a baby knows how exhausting postpartum can be. To have someone able to step in and feed your baby and give you a little break - it's very nice.
"Not everyone will ever be on board with any one topic, and this is no different, so comments don't bother me at all."
"At what point did it become such a taboo subject and why?" Katelyn asked. "Breastfeeding is very natural. Why is it considered so weird to feed someone else's baby?"
Emily now hopes to normalise the idea of nursing other people’s babies, saying: "I hope it becomes normal.
"I think so many people have done it but feel afraid to talk about it."
Rhiannon Ingle