Yes, it' safe to breastfeed someone else's baby

Breastfeeding is important: it cannot be stressed enough.

What happens then to a baby, who, for some reason, cannot be breastfed by their biological mother? Would it be acceptable to allow such a baby to be breastfed by another woman?

According to paeditrician Dr Patricia Mpaata of Nairobi Hospital, there wouldn't be anything to worry about.

"A baby can breastfeed from a woman other than its real mother," she says. "The only thing that would be relevant is if the woman breastfeeding the baby is medically fit."

Medically fit in this case means not sick with HIV or an illness that can be transmitted from the exchange of body fluids.

"It would be imperative that the health of the woman be ascertained to prevent any possibility of infecting the baby with a disease," Mpaata says.

In cases where prospective mothers don't make it alive from delivery, the baby can be 'adopted' by a willing mother.

This, Mpaata says, would be welcome as a gesture of love because breast milk is important in the growth and development of a baby.

Breast milk, she adds, cannot be substituted with anything else. Not formulae milk or any kind of food. Providing a baby with breast milk is hence securing their health.

The baby will not only gain nutrition from breast milk: it will receive antibodies to fight off infections and germs in the early months of its life; when its own immune system is not fully developed.

So, yes, women can breastfeed a baby who is not their biological child