Background: The practice of wet nursing or breastfeeding another woman’s child in Malaysia, especially among Muslim mothers, is on the rise. This is due to the emergence of public awareness of the benefits of breast milk to children. However, it is claimed that some mothers do not have a clear understanding of the Islamic rulings concerning wet nursing, especially those related to mahram (prohibition to marry), nasab (lineage) and inheritance. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the level of understanding of the legal implications of wet nursing and the factors influencing the practice among Muslim mothers who have practiced. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted between January and July 2019. This study was conducted with 100 Muslim mothers who had breastfed others’ child (ren) in Selangor. Data were obtained using a validated questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.8) and processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results : The results show that the majority of the respondents understand the basic Islamic rulings on wet nursing, especially on the persons prohibited to marry, conditions and feeding method. However, the respondents need to further understand the rulings related to nasab (lineage), guardianship and inheritance involving the milk child. Various factors that have influenced wet nursing in society were also found.

The practice of wet nursing or breastfeeding of another woman’s child(ren) in Malaysia, especially among Muslim mothers is on the rise. This is due to the emergence of public awareness of the benefits of breast milk to the children. However, it is claimed that some mothers do not have clear understanding on the Islamic rulings concerning wet nursing especially relating to mahram (prohibition to marry), nasab (lineage) and inheritance. Hence, the purpose of this article is to examine the level of understanding among Muslim others influencing the practice. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was carried out between January and December 2019. This study was conducted on 100 Muslim mothers ho had breastfed other’s child(ren) in Selangor. Data were obtained using a validated questionnaire (Cronbach alpha=0.8) and processed using the SPSS software. Results shows that majority of the respondents understand the basic Islamic rulings on wet nursing especially on the prohibited person to marry, conditions and method of feeding. However, the respondents need to understand further on the rulings relating to nasab (lineage), guardianship and inheritance involving the milk child. It is also demostrated various factors that have influenced the wet-nursing practice in society. This study has significant implications on the need to have more activities to create awareness and enhance understanding relating to wet-nursing among Muslim women in the society. Furthermore, it is recommended that formal documentation should be systematically implemented by the authorities. As such, more research studies related to wet nursing and the impact of the practice should be conducted to offer better solutions to the society.