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Is the mother obligated to breastfeed her child, and is it permissible for her to refuse to breastfeed or to wean the child early without legitimate শরعي reasons, and is the husband obliged to provide a wet nurse for the child if the mother is present?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars have differed regarding the obligation of a mother to breastfeed her child. The Shafi‘is and Hanbalis hold that the responsibility for the child's suckling falls on the father, not the mother. The husband does not have the right to compel her, unless no other wet nurse can be found, or the child refuses to take milk from anyone else, or the father has no money. In such cases, it becomes incumbent upon her. They base their argument on the Almighty's saying: (And if you are in discord, another woman will suckle [the child] for him) [At-Talaq:6]. Based on this, it is permissible for the mother to refuse to breastfeed her child, and the father must hire a wet nurse, unless her refusal would expose the child to harm. In that case, she is entitled to receive a suckling fee from his money or his father's money.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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