To find breastfeeding a 2 yr and 3 month old unsettling and slightly repulsive?

[Thinkingpositively]

I am guessing this thread might upset some people but really...? DH and i were shocked to learn someone we know is breastfeeding a child who can walk and speak and self determine...dh wouldn't discuss it over lunch...

So why are posters banging on about giving children cows milk then?

'I really didn't have a clue it was such a heated issue'

and yet in the OP you said

'I am guessing this thread might upset some people'

I'm not personally offended at you describing my child being allowed to breastfeed to term as 'unsettling and slightly repulsive' because you are obviously ignorant on the subject. But it's pretty annoying that people aren't better informed about it so that what should be the norm has ended up being thought of as weird, and a subject not to be discussed over luncheon.

None of your business.

You are also out of touch of modern health recommendations.

Your dh sounds very rigid and judegmental. Why Dow he care so much about what others do in regards to raising their own children?

Really maryz, I found the feeding boards eternally helpful and down to earth when I last looked, don't remember any heated debates going on there. But I know its a no-go area in aibu.

Since I BF a child who could read and write and who could spell better than me when we finally called it a day, the odd bit of talking hardly matters.

I guess I imagine i'll gradually stop breastfeeding when little person starts on solids and is up and about being a separate little being. Who knows....

So as you don't have children yet and you clearly haven't given any thought to how long you are going to feed for (assuming that you can), why on earth are you surprised that you get abuse for saying breastfeeding is unsettling and slightly revolting?

I have a feeling that giving birth and being a parent is going to come as a bit of a nasty surprise for you op.

and I'm still smirking about your DH's cravat.

It's a weird attitude that some people have to breastfeeding, that it's the mother being self-indulgent!

I breast fed DD until well into toddlerhood, and now at almost 5 she'd very gladly go back to breastfeeding if she could.

usual I can only see a couple of mentions of cow's milk. People who think bfing past whatever age is revolting are generally in favour of a child drinking cow's milk, which doesn't really make sense as surely if you need milk for nutrition, the kind made for your species would be best rather than that made for another mammal.

And why, for human children, is it cow's milk good, human milk eeeewwww?

OP: when you describe breastfeeding - doing something that the human race is actually physically designed to do until they are at least 5 years old (and however fab formula or any other kind of food or drink is, it cannot match breastmilk for its amazing nutritional qualities, be that as a baby's entire diet or as a supplement for older babies and toddlers/children) - as repulsive, you cannot surely be surprised that people will be offended! You are telling a large number of MNers, as well as what would undoubtedly make up over 50% of all mothers who Bf their kids globally, that the natural, healthy, loving, nurturing, and sometimes self-sacrificing (the boobing through sleep regressions, aaargh!) thing they do is repulsive

Usualsuspect - people bring up the topic of cow's milk because it IS illogical to view the milk of another species as a perfectly normal part of a diet but then to view the milk of a child's mother as repulsive and unnecessary. I drink cow's milk, and so does my still-Bfing toddler. It is just weird to see cow's milk as a more natural food for a human than human milk, no-one could surely argue it makes sense?! Oh, and your thing about formula at 2 and BM at two? Oh dear, oh dearie me...

Ponyo, I guarantee that you will know someone who has Bf a child over two, upjust thatvthey will keep it a secret, precisely because of some of the attitudes displayed here.

What a way to end a Friday night , on a BF thread in AIBU

Dunno what happened with that last line, I do apologise!

I do remember being taken aback when a friend's ds, at age 3, came running in from playing in the garden with my own ds, climbed onto the sofa where his mother was sitting, yanked her jumper up and hoiked her bra down, grabbed her boob and said "I want some boob, Mum!" then proceeded to help himself.
Each to his own. I wouldn't have wanted to do it myself with a child of that age, but the mother and child both seemed happy with their situation and it wasn't harming either of them.
The child stopped of his own accord a couple of months later, after being teased about it by his mates at playgroup.

Thanks (some of you) and sorry for being offensive... I haven't got a fricking clue other than my nipples smell a bit weird and an am for the first time in my life actually quite happy with them as they are probably a good shape for a little person to latch on too! I struggle to imagine continuing to breast feed an older child and I have no intention of feeding formula unless i really need to. Ponyo73, Im hope i can be led by what the child needs but will have to go back to work.

Don't oh dearie me.

Also I am still bf my nearly 2 year old and stopped doing it in public around 8 months because of opinions like yours.

It stopped coming up in conversations after a year and I think friends and family just assumed we'd stopped.

Sadly if anyone was to ask what age we'd stopped or if we we're still feeding I would lie as I would be to embarrassed to admit it and would be sensitive to judgment

Only my parents and dh know.

I hope that at some stage, probably when we have finished bf, I will be able to discuss it with others without feeling judged.

This thread doesn't help.

Have some nice warm milk and off to bed with you, usual.

Squirts into cup

wouldbe , never thought about it before but, yes, you're right ain't nobody's business!

Oh I see the condescending posts have started.

OP, as someone mentioned upthread, if you want to give up nursing your child when they start solids, then you will need to put them onto formula until they are one yr old. But you don't want to feed them formula if you can help it. Well, you can't have it both ways, so need to work something out. And plenty of women express milk when they go back to work (it's illegal to not provide you with a space to do it in and a break to do it in, I am led to believe).

I am confused by your posts as to whether you are TTC, pregnant or have just had a baby, but honestly, just concentrate on the here and now when you have it, if you've not. Seriously, it will be such a big shock, you will struggle to imone what you're going to have for lunch, never mind mulling over Bfing a toddler!

And it is lovely, btw. When they can actually ask for it, it's very sweet, not weird at all. When they do silly Bfing gymnastics, it's hilarious (don't let that put you off further, oops!). When they express their devotion to boobs and breastmilk, it's wonderful. Even if you end up having to pretend to breastfeed Thomas the Sodding Tank Engine. And when you see it helping or healing them when nothing else does, it's amazing. Not that you can't help your child without Bfing, but it is great stuff, honest.

Imagine, not imone. My typing is for shit, time or bed!

FOR! I give up!

When i was a child i remember someone in my family passing some negative comments about older children being b/f , i guess it's stuck with me and have NEVER come across mums breastfeeding longer that a year or two then am stuck with that message. Ignorant perhaps and ill informed. Thanks for the education.