AITAH for mansplaining breastfeeding?

My wife and I have an eight months old. For various reasons, we are not feeding him baby food. We eat meals together as a family, and in addition to breastfeeding he has access to what we eat (usually eggs, avocado, tofu, salmon, steamed broccoli, lentils, etc…) We let him choose what to try or if he wants to try anything at all.

My sister has been saying for two months that our baby needs to eat baby food, but that simply isn’t true. Our pediatrician said babies can be exclusively breastfed for up to a year. We got into an argument about it yesterday, and my sister said babies need to have baby food introduced to them at six months, that they can’t skip from breast milk to adult food without that crucial step. I told her that she is wrong and they can. Our baby eats eggs quite happily. She said babies shouldn’t eat dairy before a year. I said eggs aren’t dairy.

My sister got really frustrated during our argument and asked me if I really thought that I, as a man, understand breastfeeding better than her. I said that I do think so, because I’ve been watching my wife do it for eight months, and my sister doesn’t have kids. I also said it doesn’t matter if my sister is the world’s leading expert on breastfeeding, because my wife and I are in charge of how we wean our son, not my sister. She doesn’t get a say.

My sister said she couldn’t believe I had the balls to mansplain breastfeeding to her. I said to believe it, and she didn’t like that. Am I the asshole? I feel like she should keep her opinion to herself.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Numerous-Cup-3279 said:
NTA. This wasn’t mansplaining, it was you setting a boundary about your own child while correcting misinformation, and your sister didn’t like being told she was wrong or that she didn’t get a say. The mistake, if any, was framing it as “I understand this better than you” instead of just “this is what our pediatrician advised and this is our decision,” but that’s a tone issue, not a moral one. She’s reacting to being shut out, not to your gender, and she needs to accept that parents get to make these calls, not siblings.

HUNGWHITEBOI25 said:

Right…like none of what Op said could be considered mansplaining…his sister is just being rude and Op is standing up for his wife

SophisticatedScreams said:Exactly.

When I read the thread title, I assumed that OP was going to say that he had “mansplained” breastfeeding to his wife. The woman in his life who actually does breastfeed a child.

His sister doesn’t have children. His sister has never breastfed. Having breasts doesn’t make her a breastfeeding expert. (Which is why so many of us work with lactation consultants after we have our first children!)

And…this isn’t his sister’s child. How the OP’s baby is fed and weaned is between OP’s wife, the child’s pediatrician, and OP!

National_Pension_110

Just because you are a man, and you are explaining something (factual and accurate) to a woman, that doesn’t automatically I make it mansplaining. Maybe you should mansplain to your sis what mansplaining is. And isn’t. NTA.

tulipvonsquirrel

Its almost like baby food is mashed human food.

NTA, no mansplaining here. Your sister is out of line. Having ovaries does not mean she carries special baby knowledge on her chromosomes.

Babies are humans who eat the same food as every other human.