8-Year-Old Pretends To Breastfeed Baby Brother And The Reason Is Heartbreaking

I used to fill wine glasses with fruit juice and pretend that I was having a fancy wine party with my stuffed animals.

But maybe sometimes, we should stop and consider why children copy the things they do, and what our lifestyles teach them about living their own in the future.

"My sister has an eight year old daughter and a five month old baby" she explains, "I was at my parents' house and my sister and her boyfriend came by with the kids. They stayed for a little then went somewhere but left the kids."

Needless to say, the woman was startled and confused that the girl was trying to breastfeed her baby brother.

"I took him from her and asked her what she was doing. She said she was trying to make him happy."

The little girl revealed that she does it when her mom isn't home, in order to comfort the baby.

"I asked how often does her mom leave them by themselves. She said a lot."

"She thinks an eight year old is old enough to stay home alone. She says she fixes some food and bottles before she leaves" she writes, "My niece just does the breastfeed thing to comfort him because it's what she has seen my sister do. My sister doesn't think there's anything wrong with it."

The aunt explains that her sister took the kids and left, and that they haven't had any contact since.

"We're worried about the kids. We don't want to call CPS but we don't know what else we can do."

Some Redditers believed that it was perfectly normal behavior, and that the aunt and her parents were overreacting.

"From what I've heard, an older sibling, particularly a girl, attempting to breastfeed a baby sibling is not at all uncommon."

Though the person admitted eight was a little old for that kind of behavior, and that they usually hear about that with four or five-year-old kids.

"I’d say the leaving the baby alone with the 8 year old is more concerning than her pretending to breastfeed" one person wrote.

Several other commenters agreed:

Baby is 5 months. An 8-year-old should not be taking care of a 5-month old baby, sheesh.

Though some people may disagree with her methods, she isn't hurting or neglecting her children in any way.

We can argue all we want about the issue, but at the end of the day, as long as her children are healthy and happy, there isn't really anything to worry about.