'I'm so close to my sister I breastfeed her baby – it's not weird or disgusting'

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Kate Urioste and Mike Urioste and baby Kyan Urioste (Image: Courtesy of Emily Boazman / SWNS)
Kate Urioste and Mike Urioste and baby Kyan Urioste (Image: Courtesy of Emily Boazman / SWNS)

A woman is so close with her sister that she breastfeeds her baby - and says it's not "weird" or "disgusting". Emily Boazman, 33, says it was natural to nurse her sister Katelyn Urioste's baby girl, Kyan, now six months, when the 36-year-old fell sick a month after giving birth.

She was still nursing her son, Keen, now 18 months, and producing milk and was able to breastfeed Kyan while babysitting or when Katelyn was at the hospital. Emily - who also has daughters, Crew, eight, and Knox, five - previously nursed Katelyn’s twins, NavyKate and Grey, both six, when her sister struggled with her milk supply.

She believes it is "healthy" for a baby to have breastmilk from two women – saying it provides them with double immunity. Emily, a stay-at-home mum, from Clovis, New Mexico, US, said: “It’s special. We’re so close. It’s not weird to us. Somebody feeding your baby a bottle seems weird. People will say ‘it’s disgusting’ or that it is ‘creepy as hell’.

"It was the norm hundreds of years ago - we had wet nurses. It’s looked at as weird when it was the most natural thing. It’s just feeding a baby.” Katelyn, a stay-at-home mum, said: "I had no doubts about Emily breastfeeding - it feels completely normal to me. "We’re sisters, we’re close, it’s like she’s breastfeeding her own child, honestly.

"Anyone who has had a baby knows how exhausting postpartum can be. To have someone able to step in and feed your baby and give you a little break, it’s very nice. Not everyone will ever be on board with any one topic, and this is no different - so comments don’t bother me at all.

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'I'm so close to my sister I breastfeed her baby – it's not weird or disgusting'Emily Boazman nursing Kyan (Courtesy of Emily Boazman / SWNS)
'I'm so close to my sister I breastfeed her baby – it's not weird or disgusting'Carrie Aulson, Emily Boazman, Rachel Tenorio, Sally Aulson and Katelyn Urioste (Courtesy of Emily Boazman / SWNS)

"At what point did it become such a taboo subject and why? Breastfeeding is very natural, why is it considered so weird to feed someone else’s baby?" Emily first breastfed Katelyn's twins when she struggled with her milk supply after their birth in 2017.

She said: “My sister had lost a lot of blood and she really struggled with breastfeeding. I nursed her twins once or twice. My daughter was 18 months and I was still nursing her. My eldest sister had already nursed my eldest daughter.

“It wasn’t weird to us.” After Katelyn had a traumatic birth on July 4, 2023, and almost lost her life it was a no brainer for Emily to step in a help breastfeeding her daughter. Emily said: “She nearly died during the birth. Her placenta had gone into her uterus.

“She lost three litres of blood. But she was OK. She was producing good. She really wanted to nurse her.” When Kyan was a month Katelyn developed Clostridium difficile – a gut infection – and she was “exhausted” and often in and out of hospital.

Emily said: “She was exhausted so I nursed her baby a few times then. I’d watch the baby and all the kids and if she cried I’d just feed her. It easier than worrying about getting a bottle.” Emily and her husband, Jake, 42, a chief deputy district attorney, are also currently living with her sister and her husband, Mike, 31, an electronic engineer – while they are having their own house remodelled.

It made it easy for Emily to help out and nurse the baby when she was needed – but says she doesn’t do it very often now. Emily says she didn’t have a conversation with Katelyn before breastfeeding her baby – and it was something that came naturally.

She said: “I started seeing that she was struggling and I just said ‘I’ll nurse her’. It wasn’t like a whole big conversation. It was very natural.” Emily, who was a labour and delivery nurse for 10 years, says being breastfed by two women can even be healthier.

She said: “It’s very healthy. In fact it gives the baby double immunity. Each mum is tailored to her baby and has specific immunity needs. They nurse on two different people and it’s even healthier.” Emily says her husband and Mike were a little taken a back when she first nursed Katelyn’s twins.

She said: “At first I think they went ‘what the heck?’. I think because they grew up different he probably never saw that level of closeness. It was a little foreign. Now they are over it.” Emily hopes to normalise the idea of nursing other people’s babies. She said: “I hope it becomes normal. I think so many people have done it but feel afraid to talk about it.”

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Emma Dunn

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