The Ruling on Breastfeeding by a Christian Woman

Question:
The first question we pose to his Eminence was sent to us by our brother, the listener, Hasan Abdul Jawad, an Egyptian national. He says in his question: I have an infant, and we have neighbors who are Christian. Sometimes the wife of our neighbor, who is Christian, comes and breastfeeds the child when his mother is absent. What is the ruling in this case, and do her children become my son’s siblings or not?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
Islam is not a condition for breastfeeding. If a Christian, Jewish, or other female disbeliever breastfeeds a Muslim child, she becomes his breastfeeding mother if it is established that she breastfed him five times or more, whether in one sitting or multiple sittings.
A breastfeed is defined as the child holding the breast and sucking the milk until it reaches his stomach, then releasing the breast, and then returning to the breast afterward; this constitutes a second breastfeed, and so on. If the child, whether male or female, holds the breast and sucks the milk until it reaches his stomach, then releases it to move to the other breast or to rest, and then returns to breastfeeding and sucks from the woman a second time until the milk reaches his stomach, and then releases it, that makes two. Then it continues like this until five breastfeeds are completed, whether in one sitting, multiple sittings, or over days. The important point is that there must be five breastfeeds or more, provided the child is within the first two years. This is based on the authentic hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “He ordered Suhailah, the daughter of Suhayl, to breastfeed Salim five times.” And in the authentic hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: “Among what was revealed in the Qur’an were ten known breastfeeds that establish kinship, but they were abrogated by five known breastfeeds. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away while the matter was still as it was.” Muslim narrated it in his Sahih, and al-Tirmidhi in his Jami', and this is his wording.
These two hadiths and what came with their meaning indicate that five breastfeeds or more are required.
The other hadith: indicates that the child must be within the first two years. If these two conditions are met, the woman who breastfed becomes the mother of the infant, even if she is a disbeliever, and her children become his siblings, and her brothers become his maternal uncles, just as with the breastfeeding by a Muslim woman. Yes.

The presenter: Does any breastfeeding when the child is over two years old have no effect?

The Shaykh: It has no effect if the child has passed the age of two, for his breastfeeding has no effect. The other hadith: , and both are authentic.
And in the two Sahihs, from the hadith of Aisha: So the correct view is that the effect of breastfeeding must occur within the first two years. This is the correct view held by the majority of scholars. Yes.