I still breastfeed my 5 year-old

[TandemFeeder]

I’ve had another baby too so am now a tandem feeder. Happy to answer any questions.

Curious why you believe this is the case, why losing teeth would materially impair latching or suction? Not medically or anatomically accurate at all.

My god! You can’t know it for a universal truth!

• Not everyone can pump
• When you breastfeed a little of the child’s saliva goes back into the mothers body and is ‘read’ so that the milk can change depending on what the child’s needs (ie antibodies for illness, or more fat for a growth spurt)
• Breastfeeding builds bonds
• Breastfeeding is soothing, cups aren’t.

There are lots of reasons. And it isn’t ’hanging off a boob’.

Hi I’m not sure where you are based, but in the UK most kids start school around the age of 5. What are you going to do when they are in school FT 6 hours a day and they can’t have breast milk?

are you worried your friends might tease them? Have you warned them not to tell anyone?

The thought of a 5 year old breastfeeding makes me feel queasy

Formula is more than adequate - it’s amazing. The majority of the population are perfectly healthy from being fed solely on formula.

Totally fair question re:sex. I did say AMA!

Whereas the hormones involved in breastfeeding a baby in the first six months can have an effect on sex drive, this is not true later on. It starts to return to normal once the baby is no longer wholly dependent on breast milk.

Report anything you feel is offensive.

The can of worms about keeping it "secret"....😱

No. Two random posters on mumsnet are not evidence.

Well all I know is if I had memories of my mum doing this I would be aghast and annoyed and not at all happy. We are all allowed opinions and speaking only for myself, as a hypothetical recipient, I would be ‘icked’ out if I had that memory.

Considering the vast majority of people in the western world are not bf till they're 5/6 then I can’t really see what long term benefits these kids are actually having. They’re no different health, height, weight, intelligence wise than anybody else as an adult or we’d be able to pick them out of a crowd.

I breastfed my kids til about age 5, their Dad was perfectly happy and supportive about it!

Because it’s easier and quicker.
Also it’s hard to pump the same amount of milk that a child can get at the boob, I.e. natural is most effective.

They will care. Guaranteed. As will the child's friends when they find their five year old friend is still being breastfed. How to ensure the kid is teased terribly by other kids.

I feel your response is more in line with babies breastfeeding, which my post was not about.

If you’re trying to build a bond with your five year old through breastfeeding you’ve gone wrong somewhere.

To expand on a point that I’ve already responded to you about, breast milk changes depending on what the child’s body tells the mothers. So with regards to toddlers for example, growth spurts, illnesses, certain changes in their bodies specifically will be supported by breast milk as they age. There is a lot of evidence on this available to read via Google. I presume it is the same for older children. It is also soothing so whether or not is supports an adult isn’t relevant, it supports the child at that time and that is what counts.

With regards to you saying you’d be ‘aghast’ you probably wouldn’t be because it would be normal to you. You only think that because you don’t understand it. If it happened to you you’d think it was normal for you. That tends to be what children who have breastfed till slightly older feel going off the stories I have heard from parents with older children who can recall breastfeeding. You feel weird about something you don’t understand, that is all.

https://www.tiktok.com/@mattlucas.davidwalliams/video/7214195973826923782?lang=en-GB

Ugh, how awful. I didn't even consider the poor kid remembering sucking their mothers nipples themselves. That makes me feel ill.

You have really disgraced yourself on this thread.

It was never BF vs FF.

Some posters have ‘bashed’ extended breastfeeding, some have expressed discomfort, some have expressed their difficulty around it as they remember breastfeeding themselves due to extended feeding. You’re within your rights to report any comments that you feel breach the guidelines. Like your post did.

You appear to have been quite considerably triggered by those comments. And despite some of them coming from women who breastfed, you have launched a scathing and ignorant attack on women who formula feed.

Plain weird and posts like this are attention seeking. You are infantalising your child. She is 6. Breastfeeding is great. Not beyond the age of 2 at a stretch.

Actually there is a lot of research about how breast milk changes for toddlers specifically because their needs are different. If you take some time to do some research, there is loads of it available that specifically looks at breastmilk advantages to toddlers. Loads. As I’ve already said, I presume it is the same for older children but I’ve never looked omit because I didn’t do it.

There are lots of ways to bond and people choose to do it differently and feeding is a valid choice. You can do it your way and mothers who feed can do it their way. That doesn’t make them wrong.

You're being self-indulgent to the detriment of your child's wellbeing. You're doing him a massive disservice. Bullying is rife. Imagine what his peers will say when they find out he's still suckling. Give the child a break and allow him to be an ordinary little boy.

Do they still breast feed?

And yet children who do remember breastfeeding don’t appear to feel this way, only ignorant people who have zero experience assume they do.
And children don’t ‘suck’ they push the milk out with their tongues.

Yes I would be aghast! And yes I don’t understand it. I have children, I’ve breastfed, it’s not a totally alien world to me.

One thing I do know is I breastfed my babies in cafes, I would not breastfeed my five or six year old in a cafe, would you?