Breast-feeding TB Ketubot 60-61

One of the contractual obligations of a wife set forth in the Mishnah on daf TB Ketubot 59b is nursing her child. Dappim TB Ketubot 60--61 spend a lot of time discussing this obligation. I’ll just touch upon two different aspects of breast-feeding.

How long is an appropriate duration of nursing according to the rabbis?

“The Sages taught in a baraita: A child may continue to nurse until the age of twenty-four months, and from this point forward, if he continues to nurse, he is like one who nurses from a non-kosher animal, as a woman’s milk is forbidden to anyone other than a small child; this is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says: A child may continue to nurse even for four or five years, and this is permitted…

“The Master said in the aforementioned baraita: Rabbi Yehoshua says: A child may continue to nurse even for four or five years. But isn’t it taught in a different baraita: Rabbi Yehoshua says: Even if he can carry his package on his shoulder he can continue to nurse? The Gemara answers: This is not a contradiction, since both this and that are one, the same, measure, and the difference between them is only semantic. Rav Yosef said: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua.” (Sefaria.org translation) The halakha follows Rabbi Yehoshua. (Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah 81:7)

Coincidentally, I just saw story how people responded to the woman when they saw her photograph on the cover of Time Magazine nursing her four-year-old son. “Anyone who was raising a young child in 2012 will likely have at least a vague memory of Jamie Lynne Grumet: She was the young blond mom who graced the cover of Time magazine that year with her nearly-4-year-old son Aram as he stood on a small chair next to her, breastfeeding, both giving casual "oh, hi" looks to the camera, alongside the blaring red coverline, "Are you mom enough?"

And for those who missed that iconic moment, know that the most telling part came after, in the fallout, through a media circus, at the height of the "Mommy Wars," dictated mostly by pearl-clutching shock and horror, with plenty of sexualization and ridicule tossed in. (For the rest of the article and the mother’s reaction and feelings, follow the link ” (https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mom-who-breastfed-4-year-old-on-iconic-time-magazine-cover-looks-back-154725392.html)

The New York Post ran article back on August 11, 2021 wherein Coco Austin defends and unites women who breast-feed their children for four or more years. (https://nypost.com/2021/08/11/coco-austin-unites-moms-slammed-for-breastfeeding-kids-over-5/) I think like in many other cases, the woman has the right to decide issues concerning her body. What do you think?

Does the husband have the right whether to forbid or obligate his wife breast-feed the child?

“§ Rav Huna said: Rav Huna bar Ḥinnana tested us, by asking: If she says that she wants to nurse and he says that he does not want her to nurse but rather to give the child to a wet nurse, we accede to her desires, as she is the one suffering from engorgement of her breasts. However, if he says that he wants her to nurse and she says that she does not want to nurse, what is the halakha? He then narrowed the scope of the question: Anywhere that she is not accustomed, as the women of her family generally do not nurse their children but give them to wet nurses instead, we accede to her desires. However, if she is accustomed to nursing and he is not accustomed, i.e., the women of her family generally nurse their babies but the women in his family do not, what is the halakha: Do we follow his wishes to follow her family custom or do we follow her wishes to follow his family custom?

“And we answered his question from this amoraic statement: When a woman marries a man, she ascends with him to his socioeconomic status, if it is higher than hers, but she does not descend with him if his status is lower. Consequently, if his family is not accustomed to nurse, she is not obligated to nurse either.” (Sefari.org translation) Ultimately, the woman and not the man decides whether she will breast-feed or not.

These pages contain other interesting aspects of breast-feeding like is breastmilk kosher and what are the contractual obligations of a wetnurse? I encourage you to study these dappim.