Breastfeeding Mom Sparks Controversy After Nursing Friend's Son: Will 'Cross-Nursing' Be An Acceptable Trend?

Jessica Anna Colletti, a 26-year-old mom, posted a photo of herself on Facebook to commemorate World Breastfeeding Week. It showed her son latched onto her breast as she was nursing him. But the photo earned the ire of the public since the image also showed something unusual.

As her son was drinking her breast milk, feeding on to her other breast is the son of her friend. For Jessica, this wasn't odd because she has done this many times before.

"My son on the right is 16 months and my friend's son is 18 months. I watch her son while she works and have been feeding them both for a year! So much love between these milk siblings, it's a special bond between us all." she wrote on the Facebook page, Mama Bean - Unconditional Attachment.

Some of the users, however, didn't think it was a good idea as many posted their comments to say that they were grossed out by Jessica feeding someone else's son. One man even said, "You are super nasty. Those two TODDLERS are too old to be breastfeeding," according to Salon.

Explaining herself to Daily Mail Australia, the young mom said that she was only stepping in when her friend couldn't pump breastmilk, and then the baby developed issues with formula milk. "My friend and her son live with me and my husband. She knows everything about me and trusts me with the care of her child," Jessica stated. "She knows I want nothing but the best for our boys, which is why she supports me breastfeeding our babies."

Salon said that such practice of wet nursing is not entirely new as it has ancient roots. Some studies have also shown that it is necessary in special cases and cultures.

Today, it may go by another term, and the idea of "cross-nursing" is gaining ground especially since milk banks are rising in the U.S. Even the World Health Organization supports the practice, as it lists "a healthy wet-nurse" is its guidelines for alternative breastfeeding, per a report released on its website. 

"Of course there's a risk with anything you do that's not the biological mom's breast milk, but if the woman has been screened, if she's healthy, if she is substance free, if her child is healthy as well, it shouldn't be a problem," Kathleen McCue, a lactation consultant said via 6 ABC.