The Importance of Breastfeeding Your Child

By Lekan Yakub
Assalaamualykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh,
As part of our Islamic mentoring activities on our website rafeeqee.com, I will like to share with you a short article on the importance of breastfeeding your child. Kindly read and share with others please.

As a parent, one of the first right your child has over you is “breasfeeding” and it must be provided for him by the one whose duty it is to do so.
Allaah says: “The mothers shall give suck to their children for two whole years (that is) for those (parents) who desire to complete the term of suckling.” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 233] Also, in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (22/239): There is no difference of opinion among the fuqaha’ that it is obligatory to breastfeed an infant so long as he needs that and he is at the age for breastfeeding.

As for the father, Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“but the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother’s food and clothing on a reasonable basis” [al-Baqarah 2:233]

It is better if no one breastfeeds the child but his mother, because that is more beneficial, and that may be obligatory for her if the child will not accept the breast of anyone else.

Ibn Qaasim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Haashiyat-ur-Rawd : “breastfeeding has an effect on an individual’s nature.” Then he said: “Al-Qaadee mentioned that whoever is breastfed from a stupid woman, the child too will come out being stupid. And whoever is breastfed from a woman with bad manners, it will pass onto him. And whoever is breastfed from an animal, he will come out senseless, like an animal.”

As for the breastfeeding mothers, apart from saving you the money you spend on processed milk, breastfeeding has a positive impact in your health! Breastfeeding for as from the birth of the child to a longer period of time helps the mother’s uterus to contract to its normal size. You are most likely not going to get pregnant while breastfeeding (although this is not so for all women), so this serves as a natural method of birth control and way of spacing apart children. Breastfeeding women typically regain their pre-pregnancy figures more quickly than other women and are much less prone to breast cancer later in life.

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