AIBU to be surpised at an almost 7 year old still being breastfed?

[Toomanycuppas]

Met up for lunch with friends we rarely see last week and was not aware she was still b/f. Almost 7 year old came running back from the park, went to the mum and lifted her top up and she said "no, it's not an appropriate time for that".

I can understand that it's normal for the child but wouldn't they be teased by school friends if it's asked for/done in public?

Neither do I MamaM!
I was answering OP -She wasn't being unreasonable.
Interestingly if I post much on any subject someone asks me why.
I don't know why anyone else is so bothered either-they are nearly all talking about preschool DCs and that isn't what is is about.
OP specifically said 'wont they be teased by friends?' and yes they will if 7yrs. It isn't applicable to 3/4 yr olds-they won't.

You are right mama everything else is substandard

Take a look at this thread Bertiebotts www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_health/1383109-my-dds-teeth-are-decayed-and-I-am-so-worried there are a lot of dentists there with advice on tooth erosion and breastmilk. The conclusion is that once children are eating it affects the acidity. So don't BF last thing at night without brushing teeth afterwards.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_health/1383109-my-dds-teeth-are-decayed-and-I-am-so-worried

sorry - here.

My own analysis of extended breastfeeding is that I don't like it because it encourages children to become too dependent on their mothers. I believe that we should always be encouraging our children to be independent and allowing them to have what they want makes them more dependent on us and to continue that means you are restricting your child's development. They can't seperate from you physically while they are breastfeeding and that has a big effect psychologically.

What the actual fuck soendit? Take away what children depend on in order to make them independent? How cold hearted and not to mention calculated is that?

Spendit not soendit

Mama at the age of 7 a child has to go to school, spend the whole day without you. You are making her suffer because she can't get what she still 'needs'. It is wrong to make a child depend on something when you know they don't need it. It's selfish and immature. As adults we have to

And please don't call me silly. You know nothing about me. In my many years of experience I have learned that overindulged children are insecure and incapable as they get older. I have watched mothers defend their actions just as you are because their little darling couldn't possibly be subjected to x or y, and seen them as teenagers, insecure and unhappy, needy and unbalanced.

Children need to learn where they stop and other people begin. That begins to happen very early on in life, and as parents let go the children develop and grow.

I agree with Spendit. She's talking about extended bf,not normal bf.

Strangely spenditwisly older BFing children don't necessarily BF everyday. They disappear to sleepovers and brownie holidays just like everyone else.
I guess you are visualising some shy quiet timid little thing hiding behind Mummy's skirt.
Sorry, DD2 is the confident out going child narrating the school play or reading the prayers.
The sort of child who puts her uniform on and sorts her lunch, while mum sorts out her dippy big sister.
She's the one looking out for her quieter class mates.
She'll bounce into school without a kiss and leave uncool parents in the car.

Please don't tell me that DC don't actually forget how to latch on at seven because I am counting on that!

DS (autistic) still has some first thing in the morning and last at night and he is four.

No I DO NOT get anything out of it at all. But I am his mother and he has SN and he seems to need to do it and gets horribly upset otherwise. We spend all day dealing with the fact that DS sees and experiences the world scarily differently. If I can calm him before he gets up and before he initially goes to sleep then great. I fucking hate my breasts being touched if you must know and have never even liked them being touched sexually so there goes the perverse theories in my case. DS needed my milk despite my misgivings and he needs the comfort now, despite my feelings of ick.

He has never slept through the night in over four years. You can judge me all you like but until you have experienced a newborn baby who never grows out of the night-waking several times per night for over four years then you can tell me I'm doin' it wrong. I look forward to hearing from you

nannyplum i hope you are better now, i am shocked at the comment after you posted that about sad situations .

"I thought mother nature gave children teeth in order that they eat and move on from breastfeeding? What happened to that theory - why is it necessary to breastfeed extensively unless there is no other source of food?"

... isn't that why the first set of teeth are called 'milk teeth'... to be replaced by adult teeth at ooo say around 6/7? And don't children still also drink cow's milk even there there are other sources of food?

And whatmeworry is talking crap because breastmilk has plenty of benefit after six months - cows milk/formula cannot compare

If you are going to accuse me of talking shite, at least demonstrate an understanding of what I said.

t's very simple - as other nutrients are introduced, at about 6 months (nearly everyone starts to wean at 6 months, even Mongolians...) then the importance of breast milk tails off, because as a % of all nutrients it tails off, and by c 2 yo it is a marginal source of nutrients.

This does not mean b/f benefits go to zero at 6 months and a day, it means there are diminishing returns.

Not only that, but the Childs own immune system grows over time, so it is less dependent on the mothers'. In developing countries with poor hygiene and sanitation it makes sense to b/f as much and as long as possible, simply because the other food sources are far riskier there.

That these basics can even be disputed makes me realise that we are dealing with a belief system, not rationality.

I thought mother nature gave children teeth in order that they eat and move on from breastfeeding? What happened to that theory - why is it necessary to breastfeed extensively unless there is no other source of food?

It's not a theory, that is what those teeth are for. You don't need them to chew milk.

Spendit - at almost 4 ds was still bfing and attends preschool (he stopped bfing almost 3 months ago). He didn't pone for it at school. He had it as he went to sleep at night, tho not every night. Why can't you draw the line between the demands of a baby bfing and an older child. It's completely different and it evolves as the child does.

*What the actual fuck soendit? Take away what children depend on in order to make them independent? How cold hearted and not to mention calculated is that?

salad thankyou . There are some pretty warped people on here.
.

runningwilde you are an individual without empathy or compassion.
Have you ever had radiotherapy ? Or cancer in pregnancy ?
Staying alive was enough in itself .
Don't tell me you can breastfeed in these circumstances unless you have been through this .
Breastfeeding is not ' the holy grail '.

That is a terribly sad situation NannyPlum but the fact remains, it is perfectly possible to feed with one as it is to feed twins. I've been using one for over four years.

When DS had his horrible reaction to the MMR at two and couldn't even keep water down for weeks on end, BM was the only thing which kept him from being sedated in hospital on a drip. Thank Christ it went beyond the six weeks I had planned although to be fair that was his choice...

this analysis has already been posted a couple of times I believe, but you keep ignoring it

Well I could as easily quote from the back of a Weetabix packet - are you really arguing there are no nutrients in any other foods other than breastmilk? Why do you think kids wean and survive - even have to, to thrive - on other foods? Why do they grow teeth from 6 months even?

At 2 years old a child will be getting over a third of their calcium from breastmilk, 43% of protein, 94% of vit B12 and 60% of vit C from daily breastfeeding?

That's including the very large proportion of children in the world who aren't breastfed at 2 years old, I take it?

Stuffing a child with as much breast milk as you can at 2 years old in support of your beliefs, and then arguing it's therefore an essential part of it's diet, is putting the cart before the horse methinks.

Breastfeeding is known to have beneficial effects regarding the prevention of breast and ovarian cancers but NannyPlum, no, I can't say that I would if I had been that ill that recently. Staying alive, as you say, and staying strong - getting enough sleep and getting help from others taking care of the baby and feeding it would quite possibly be my priority as well.

I agree.

BertieBotts Sun 15-Jan-12 23:50:25
"I, too, see a huge problem with a mother allowing her DC to be filmed for an exploitative TV show such as that one. But I don't think it was the breastfeeding which was at fault, and to be fair, she may have been totally naive to how it was going to be portrayed when she agreed."

I'd say the same goes for all those parenting programmes- it's exposing your child on national television that would seem the real problem, not whether it's for breastfeeding or tantrums.

Haven't got a personal stake in this (dd self weaned at 11 months and never asked for bf again), but I do feel that the extended bf's on this thread have repeatedly answered the questions on general independence and that the other side has paid little attention to their input.

Not that I would want to ebf myself and I don't know anyone who has done it either, but is there actually any reason to believe that there is a definite connection between the length of breastfeeding and say the ability to use a kettle? Those on this thread who have experience say there is not.

It seems a bit of a non sequitur to me, coming at it from the outside: the logic appears to be "I think this behaviour is age inappropriate. Anyone who displays age inappropriate parenting in one area will also display age inappropriate behaviour in other areas". That seems a massive logical leap to me.

To return to those Mongolians, they were seen as a non-relevant example because they were both breastfed for a long time and able to do age appropriate (for their culture) work. But surely that only makes them irrelevant if we know for a fact that this is not possible in our culture. Do we know it? I don't. I don't know a thing about it.