Back in the Victorian times, wet nursing – where a baby is breastfeed by somebody other than their mother – was common.

Nowadays, not so much. And doing so without permission is especially frowned upon.

One mum has shared a dilemma relating to this on Reddit, sparking strong responses from horrified parents and childfree users alike.

The 22-year-old explained how she and her sister, 27, both had babies less than five weeks ago, and their sons were born within two weeks of each other.

As the woman needed to have surgery and the child’s father isn’t around, her sister kindly offered to babysit the newborn (who is bottle fed) for a few days while she was in hospital.

Despite being thankful for the help, however, things took a turn for the worse on her return, all due to her sibling’s insistence that ‘breast is best’.

‘When I came home today, I walked into my son on my sister’s breast,’ the new mother wrote, adding that she actually didn’t have an issue to begin with, as ‘it was probably easier to breastfeed him than make bottles.’

The post continued: ‘She told me after she had thrown out all of the “garbage” I was feeding him and she was going to pump and donate milk to him.

‘I was kind of in shock so I didn’t react straight away, but I then went to the bathroom and called the police on her.’

While authorities told the woman that what her sister had done wasn’t a crime since ‘the child is being fed’, the situation escalated.

‘My sister then blew up at me, saying it was completely wrong of me to call the police on her when she was just trying to help,’ continued the post.

‘I told her she dumped 14 cans of formula without even consulting me and currently had nothing to replace it with, just plans to.’

Despite originally offering to look after her nephew free of charge, the sister then demanded payment, before storming out and blocking her younger sibling on social media.

The woman added: ‘There’s no way my sister would have replaced the formula, she is completely against it, and has been vocal about her dislike for me using it

‘Our parents were able to replace two of the cans she threw out but can’t do much else. They also think I was a d*** for calling the police on her because getting a record could affect her government job and therefore my nephew.’

From the non-consensual breastfeeding to the trashing of the (increasingly expensive) baby formula, Redditors were aghast at the sister’s actions.

‘I don’t understand how breastfeeding a child that isn’t yours, and especially without permission, isn’t some kind of assault,’ commented one person, while another added, ‘Your sister sounds unhinged.’

A third said: ‘She can disagree with you all she wants, but theft is theft – and now that she’s blocked you everywhere, she’s leaving your child to go hungry.’

Yet some claimed the woman went too far, including one user who said: ‘She had no right to get rid of the formula, but calling the police was a massive overreaction. What was your goal? To have a nursing mother arrested? Both of you should have been adults and discussed this.’

A second wrote: ‘Be mad at her, absolutely. But also don’t waste the police’s time with something like this.’

‘She took care of your newborn for 72 hours straight,’ said another. ‘That is normally a costly service and would about equal the cost of the formula. If not for her you would have had to pay someone to babysit.’

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