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I was researching extended breastfeeding and came across this.
I see nothing wrong with this, I wouldn't be 'scared' for life if I could remember being breast fed or found out I was given someone else's milk.
I think the only 'scarring' would come from going from the natural environment of being fed from something to then finding out a large majority find it sexual, not the actual feeding itself.

I remember being breast fed.

I got told off for digging my fingernails in, which I remember, apparently I used to sort of palpate her like a little animal

And I had to go into hospital for an operation and my mum came to see me after and I remember feeding from her then and it was just what I wanted, all I'd had up till then was a vegemite sandwich and a cup of water that smelled of cholorine

That said, despite remembering the water tasted of cholirine, I can't really remember what breastmilk tastes like!!!

daughter breastfed until she was four. she's 30 now and not 'scarred' as far as i can tell - except possibly by the fat that flew into her face when cooking last night. she's breastfeeding her own 14mo daughter.

breastfeeding is fine. i don't like cheap and nasty articles in low magazines though. you'll find you're much happier if you don't read them!

I think its the way that article is written. Its made to sound wrong when it just isn't. Why would you be scarred by remembering having a brilliant bond with your mum? There are some strange folk about. A 5 year old is still a small child.

Well I know three five year olds who bf and one rather well adjusted young lady who gave up just shy of double figures.

She would tell you exactly what tripe those comments are but she's fast asleep after a 12th birthday no-sleep over.

And if you are a journalist, please don't PM me as We have no wish to turn something beautiful and special, that happened totally by accident into a freak show for bigoted fools.

I disagree. I think when a child gets to five years old its nothing to do with the child's needs and all about a selfish mother who is probably insecure and feels she needs to be needed far too much.

Children need comfort, but they also need independence, which means they need to be able to comfort themselves and to accept comfort from other people.

There is nothing wrong with wet nursing a baby whose own mother can't do it and they are still little enough to need breast milk, but I would think a woman who wanted to feed other people's children just for the sake if it was plain weird. Even if the children enjoy it, they are children. They enjoy doughnuts, that doesn't mean they should be allowed as many of them as they want.

Nothing wrong with EBF so long as the child wants to continue (which in all probability won't be much longer in the case in that story but its nobody's business but theirs).

Wet nursing used to be normal. Of course, the way it used to be (too posh to BF yourself, hire a wench) isn't exactly something we'd want to go back to but there must be cases where it would be beneficial. If you had lots of milk and a friend with a poorly or premie baby who couldn't herself BF, it'd be a pretty awesome gift, wouldn't it?

Yes, because doughnuts are exactly the same as breastmilk aren't they?

Extended breast feeding I have no problem with, however saying that you will do it into the kids teenage years really!?

I thought children lost the ability to latch at around 6/7 when the adult teeth came through but your post suggests not startail

YANBU OP, of course there is nothing wrong with extended BF. Our society has some fucked up ideas.

Clouds it is biologically normal for a child to bf to 5 and beyond. It is not about the mother at all. And seriously, how independant can a 5 year old be?

It's not extended anyway. It's natural term bf. I'm not reading the link as I expect its a pile of crap.

I fed by lot for years. its the norm. I feel uncomfortable when bottles are taken away the instant a baby turns 1. Our society pushed independence on them, rather than letting them gain this skill at own pace.

People who say its or the mothers benefit usually have no experience of natural term bf and are guessing. I've never met or read on here anyone who has experience say its for the mother.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, I'm just giving my personal opinion. I bf'ed my own babies until they were nearly a year old, I just don't think they need it when they are old enough to go to school.

The article is written to sound sensational, I don't trust a single quote from it tbh.

DS is two and a half and still breastfed at least once a day. Big whoop. I know he won't be by five years old, because frankly if I'm nearly fed up with it now I doubt I'll be willing by then. Plus, hopefully he'll have a sibling to contend with.

The wet nursing doesn't bother me a bit, but I wouldn't take her up on her offer. Unless I was in a pinch and I'd actually seen she was disease-free and ate as well as I do, then I may consider it. But I'm a sahm so my norks are a free-for-all.

I cannot stand seeing walking, talking children breastfed.

I am laughing at the thought of forcing any child to breastfeed!!

What a ridiculous opinion you have Clouds!

So the woman in the article would continue bf her child until a teenager, sorry that's totally wrong, when will she stop when he turnes into an adult and moves out biput comes home for a bf! I don't agree with extended bf after 3 , but would never pass comment to the mother of stare, that's rude

It would be a talented child indeed who could walk and talk whilst being breastfed Absoluteeightiesgirl. More seriously, the World Health Organisation recommends that children are breastfed until they are at least 2 years old when surely most chidren are walking and talking?

Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with breastfeeding beyond age 3-ish. I don't believe that an older child would gain any benefit nutritionally that could not be had elsewhere, nor would he/she gain any benefit in terms of comfort that could not be had otherwise. But others feel differently, so to each her own.

Planning to breastfeed a teenager sounds bonkers to me, but I am hoping that the woman was just engaging in a bit of hyperbole.

Meh it's normal. I don't see the problem. Bf mine till she was too and she weaned when I got pregnant. My daughter started to walk when she was 9.5 months so according to the previous post that would be wrong. IMHO anyone who knows anything or has ever bf understands how normal it is. The hysteria stems from lack of understanding