If you were breastfeeding a baby, and had a surplus.....

[colditz]

...and your 3 year old had never been breastfed at all, so missed out on the benefits, would it give them (the 3 year old) any benefit to get the surplus in a milky drink or something? Hypothetically speaking.

Or would it be too late by then? Are the benefits of breastfeeding only really for the under two's?

[oops]

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[hercules]

It wouldnt cause any harm. The benefits continue well beyond 2. Someone did a link to a site which showed this once.

[pooka]

I'm also interested - while I fed dd, she stopped at 13 months and I sometimes wonder whether if, say, she got a stomach bug, breast milk would be helpful (now I have a 16 week old).

[colditz]

But does a toddler only get these benefits if he/she has always been breastfed?

[hercules]

No idea.

[mummytosteven]

no idea, but worth a go surely if your 3 year old likes the taste.

[colditz]

Argh. I will be thinking about this all night. Off to Google, I must know!

[mummytosteven]

alternatively you could express surplus milk for your local milk bank.

[Pruni]

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[sazhig]

WHO recommends bf to age 2 as a minimum so almost certainly it will contain lots of nutrients for children beyond that age. Average age for stopping bf worldwide is 4 & think therefore there are some cultures who bf up to ages like 7 - they wouldn't do it if it didn't have its benefits.
Kellymom has this on extended breastfeeding which has lots of links as well as info on nutrients found in bm.

Looking at it from another slant - it will probably do far more good than cows milk purely as it is designed for humans!

Have you though of donating to a milk bank?

[colditz]

I only have a 2 year old, but he will be 3 when this baby arrives.

My main motivation for this question is that I didn't breast feed him at all. Now, I had my reasons, and they were good reasons at the time. But would like to give him that benefit if I can, if I can breastfeed this baby so successfully that I have surplus milk, and if it will give ds, who has never had breast milk, any benefit then I want him to have it.

Otherwise I will feel I have done more for his brother than I did for him. And I have enough problems with guilt already, as am an oldest child myself and didn't take to a sibling well, so scared he will feel as bad as I did.

[Aloha]

Don't assume anything Colditz. Ds adored dd from the moment she was born and still does, 11 months on. I asked him recently if he liked it better before baby was born or now when she's here, and he looked at me as if I was insane!
I felt tortured by guilt at inflicting a sibling on him, but she's the joy of his life.

[sazhig]

Of course the other thing to consider is will he actually like it? MIL often tells the tale of how her middle son kept asking for mummy milk when his younger brother was born when he hadn't had it for a long while. She gave him some in a cup and he tasted it & informed her that mummy's milk was "yuck"

[Mytwopenceworth]

don't know about the benefits of introducing an older child to breastmilk for the first time, but would say that an alternative (if you find that your 3 yr old doesn't want/need it) is milk donation.

here

and here

[pooka]

I gave dd some expressed milk in a cup when ds was tiny, simply because she asked for some (was intended for the freezer). She said "mmmm...delicious" but I thnk she was only being polite as never asked again. Was subscribing to the Penelope Leach no jealousy policy of "this is what tom drinks now. You're older so drink all sorts of drinks. But I'm not withholding it from you."

[Laura032004]

Personally I would probably give it to the older child. I've read a few stories on another parenting website , about people giving EBM to older children - usually on cereal, to perk them up if they have a cold. I suppose if the whole family has the cold, the antibodies in the milk will help the older child as much as the younger. I can't see why it would make a diff if they hadn't had bm as a baby.

Would also still help things like eye infections in the older child (if you could get them to sit still whilst you squirted !!)

I think it would have to be fresh milk though, as otherwise the antibodies wouldn't be for the current bugs IYKWIM.

[blueshoes]

Agree with Laura. There are definite benefits for your 3 year old. But perhaps these benefits are less than for an infant (which is btw completely unrelated as to whether your 3 year old was bf before). Antibodies are more vital for an infant whose immune system has not yet developed. There are also those things in breastmilk (DHA??) which (I believe also put in formula) which aids brain development. Your 3 year old's brain is a lot more developed.

But hey, this shouldn't stop you

[tiktok]

It's a nutritious and healthy drink, colditz, and why would you not give any child a nutritious and healthy drink? You also have the insight that bf and breastmilk is more than 'just' the milk, but a connection, an aspect of your relationship, something only you can do....and to share this with your 3-year-old is just lovely.

(Oh, and the antibodies won't do any harm and may do some good. )

Go for it