Are there any rulings or conditions on the choice of a foster mother?

Question

In Islam it is not unusual that a child might be breast fed by somebody else than his own mother. In fact in my own family we have such cases, where two cousins were breast fed from one of their mothers. The prophet () himself was breast fed by Halimah as-Sa'adiya as we all know and she was a polytheist and converted to Islam later.
And Muslims often had non-Muslim neighbours and in cases, especially in the early days of Islam and in case of conversion, family members who are/were non-Muslims.

All this made me wonder if it is appropriate to have a non-Muslim breast feed a Muslim baby or are there any kind of limitations or conditions on the foster mother in fiqh books (like who can be foster mother, and when is it allowed to breast feed a kid that's not your own).

Answer 1

It is disapproved to choose a wet nurse who is not Muslim or who has a questionable character. Breastfeeding creates bonding between the woman and the child. If the wet nurse is non-muslim then it is possible that the child will grow an inclination towards her and hence towards her religion, or would imitate her.

Reference:

كره أبو عبد الله الارتضاع بلبن الفجور والمشركات. وقال عمر بن الخطاب، وعمر بن عبد العزيز - رضي الله عنهما -: اللبن يشتبه، فلا تستق من يهودية ولا نصرانية ولا زانية. ولا يقبل أهل الذمة المسلمة، ولا يرى شعورهن ولأن لبن الفاجرة ربما أفضى إلى شبه المرضعة في الفجور، ويجعلها أما لولده، فيعتبر بها، ويتضرر طبعا وتعيرا، والارتضاع من المشركة يجعلها أما، لها حرمة الأم مع شركها، وربما مال إليها في محبة دينها. ويكره الارتضاع بلبن الحمقاء، كيلا يشبهها الولد في الحمق، فإنه يقال: إن الرضاع يغير الطباع. والله تعالى أعلم

^{— المغني}