Human–animal breastfeeding

Human–animal breastfeeding is the nursing exchange of milk between a human and a nonhuman animal, in either direction.

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Wet nursing: The practice of one person breastfeeding another person’s infant. It provides a human-to-human comparison for nursing across species.
Lactation: The production and release of milk by mammary glands. It is the biological process that makes either direction of nursing possible.
Human milk: Milk produced by human mammary glands to nourish infants. It is the milk involved when a human nurses an animal.
Food safety: Practices and standards that reduce hazards in food intended for consumption. Milk from an animal requires attention to contamination and handling.
Animal-assisted breastfeeding: A practice in which a human breastfeeds a nonhuman animal. It names the human-to-animal direction of the exchange.
Suckling: The rhythmic action by which an infant or young mammal draws milk from a nipple or teat. Suckling stimulates milk transfer during the exchange.
Animal milk: Milk produced by a nonhuman mammal, with composition that varies by species. Its species-specific composition matters when an animal nurses a human.
Infectious disease transmission: The spread of pathogens between hosts through direct or indirect routes. Nursing can expose either participant to pathogens carried in milk or saliva.
Cross-species nursing: Nursing in which a mammal feeds an offspring of another species. It places the exchange within documented interspecies care.
Oxytocin: A hormone involved in milk ejection and several reproductive and social processes. Its release helps move milk during nursing.