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.

It is the biological norm to feed for several years. modern day hunter gatherers and anthropological studies of cavemen show that naturally in those environments we do it for 2-5 years.

many children will naturally wean the mums get pregnant again and the milk changes but if they don’t then weaning at 5,6 or even 7 really isn’t so unheard of. i bet we all know people who do this hut keep quiet about it.

OP is at the upper end of ‘normal’ BUT she actually is still normal. most people in the Uk and US (and presumably elsewhere too) these days wean before 1 but actually they are the weird ones.

Mine never watches. He’s always busy doing something else.

Are you open with your family and friends about it, or it is it something you keep to your household?

And if the former - how had their reaction been?

There are some really ignorant and judgemental replies on here. I suggest you read up about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Well done, OP, for carrying on.

You won’t get much support for extended breastfeeding in a nation that has one of the worst rates of breastfeeding in the entire world, and where only 0.5% of children are still breastfed at 1 year old.

’Fed is best’, ‘be kind’ and ‘my baby my choice’ only applies to bottle feeding parents, it seems.

They would, because I think if you look globally across cultures, most children self wean by 7 years.

Don’t be ridiculous.

😳

I can't see a problem with it. It's better than letting them suck their thumbs which will ruin their teeth. I got zero comfort or love from my parents and sucked my thumb instead. Now I need braces.
Friend pressure will soon put a stop to it.

I mean, there’s loads of shit cavemen did that not remotely advisable today

She's the one still wanting to feed, not me 🤣

My child will be fine. My older children (now teenagers!) were also breastfed well past nursery age, and they're not traumatised.

Which cultures?

Op said that her ds feeds for 5 mins before bed. That leaves plenty of the day for playing! What a stupid reply.

presumably OP’s ds will feel secure and happy. Win-win.

Just to follow on from my previous post (not wanting to hijack - perhaps I should start my own thread, "I remember being BF, AMA")

I think some people are perhaps using unnecessarily extreme language (stunted, traumatised etc).

My personal experience is really just what I said, I feel a bit uncomfortable thinking about it, and definitely wouldn't want to discuss it with my DM. I guess in the same way that when I was born I know I was pushed out through her vagina. DEFINITELY not a thought I want to dwell on.

So although it's not the choice I made for my own DC I'm a long way from being traumatised.

That said, I clearly never mentioned it at school or anything. That obviously does have the potential to lead to a long lasting trauma I think, so needs careful consideration.

I think someone bottle feeding a six year old would get a very similar reaction!

Please make sure they aren’t telling their school friends that they still get milk from you

That's cruel. No need to stop until after A levels.

I think it says a lot about your mindset that you assume anyone who has a negative opinion is sexualising it as there can be no other explanation. Breastfeeding past a certain age is for comfort (generally, and it sounds like it in OPs case), it’s common in our society to discourage some comforters as children grow, like sleeping in parents beds, thumb sucking, taking confort teddies literally everywhere. Same for breastfeeding. Not everyone with a different opinion is just thinking about sexy boobies. HTH

OP do you think it’s helped his immune system a lot? Did he still get ill lots at nursery etc?

How are yiur child's teeth. I ask because decades ago when we had infant children, we went to a dinner party and one if the guests was a dentist. He told us about a six year old child, patient, who had horrendous tooth decay. His discussions with the mother identified no inappropriate food: sweets, additional sugar, honey, etc and he was flummoxed. He then discovered withe child was still being breastfed and that was the cause of the delay because breastmilk contains high levels of sugar. I took it as true and have never researched it.

Honestly, cos that feels like too much effort. I don’t even own any expressing equipment anymore.

My cut off is when they lose their milk teeth and can no longer latch.

we can learn a lot from them imo.

modern day society doesn’t exactly create healthy habits and lifestyles.

To put it bluntly, I can remember it. It is NOT a thought l let myself dwell on, for obvioiois reasons. It's not traumatic but it does make me feel uncomfortable.

Haven’t we evolved from caveman days?

Diets have changed. Children get more nutrition from other foods.

If your child needed comfort at school pick up would you whip out your boob?

Do you ever say no to your child, or if they get whatever they want?

(deleted - will repost as it lost the quote so made no sense!)

Do you ever worry about their weight? If they are eating a normal diet and breast milk isn't that too many calories a day. I assume they don't have milk in place of food so I'd be a bit worried about that.