breastfeeding at 5 (and above?)

[cleopatracomingatya]

fully expecting to get some extreme opinions here.

www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/7286609/mum-breastfeeds-five-baths-naked-normal-break-stigma/

This is the article (and the bath photo is disturbing enough for me as it is)

interested to see the general consensus on this. AIBU to think this is just... no!!

My SiL and BiL never visited me once while I was breastfeeding my son neither did her mother, my MiL because, as my MiL put it... 'She doesn't even go to the bedroom to feed him!'

Sounds like a blessing in disguise

My FIL felt quite awkward with my feeding in front of him at first (although bless him, he expressed it by disappearing to make me cups of tea) but I wasn't about to feel banished to the bedroom in my own house. And now that I'm well into feeding #2 he's become immune.

I certainly don't love the way this was covered but yes, in general, I think we need to see more people casually feeding toddlers and preschoolers until we can see how very unremarkable it is. It's a kind of catch-22 because it becomes increasingly common for them to feed only at bedtime/morning and because most of us do tend to actively avoid or discourage public feeding after a certain point because of people's perceptions, so people have no idea how widespread and how normal it actually is.

Breastfeeding rates are low in Britain. I am not sure how common breast feeding toddlers in Britain is. That is not to say it should not be happening.But I doubt it is that common here.

There are lots of things people put in the newspapers that I wouldn't. I would rather see this image than some of those

This.

Reading the comments under that article and some of the responses on here would make you despair of humanity.

I'm not a long term breastfeeder for various reasons (a year is my general limit) but the benefits of breastfeeding don't just 'go away' as the child becomes a toddler and preschooler.

It continues to be a lovely bonding experience and why on earth should that be stopped before the mum/child are ready because we as a nation are so weird about breasts? As for the total imbeciles shouting 'bitty', that's a disgraceful reaction for a 13 year old boy, have a word with yourself as a grown adult.

The mixed messages conveyed to mothers on breastfeeding are ridiculous. So breast is best and youre a bad mother for not bf your infant. But at a certain unspecified point it becomes disgusting and depraved and you're a bad mother for doing it. That's totally head wrecking.

I am not sure how common breast feeding toddlers in Britain is.

I'm not saying it's common as in a large percentage of the population does it. A large percentage of the population doesn't breastfeed past six to twelve weeks or so. But a small percentage of the population is still quite a lot of actual toddlers - probably more than most people who haven't done it would realise. Several of my mum friends have "confessed" that they fed theirs up to the 2-year mark or beyond without anyone else knowing. I don't mistake my social circle for a random sample of the population, but nonetheless I think a lot of people really truly don't realise that breastfeeding often doesn't end at a year.
.

The mixed messages conveyed to mothers on breastfeeding are ridiculous. So breast is best and youre a bad mother for not bf your infant. But at a certain unspecified point it becomes disgusting and depraved and you're a bad mother for doing it. That's totally head wrecking.

Completely agree.

Is the bath picture her? I assumed that was a stock photo because it looks nothing like the others.

Poor kid, being plastered all over “the sun”. It’ll be online forever. Which won’t be fun when his schoolmates find it in ten years’ time.

Which won’t be fun when his schoolmates find it in ten years’ time

It would be nice to think that in ten years time, parents will have taught their sons there is nothing about pictures like that to ridicule anyone.
I would be ashamed of my son if he thought it was something to pick on a friend for!
If people would parent better they won't produce a bully.

Why, in ten years time would one of his friends think, “I know, let’s type my friends name into google and see if there are any newspaper articles about them.”

I certainly didn’t hit 15 and decide to start googling my friend’s names for no reason whatsoever....

And even if I had at that age and found an article about my friend being breast fed when they were 5 I’m pretty sure enough time would have passed for me to not really care?!

Breast feeding till 2 is pretty normal though, if not common in Britain.

At some point it's probably healthier for a child to develop their own active immunity rather than gain passive immunity from their mothers breast milk. So I fail to believe that bf at that age would benefit the child, intact I think it's suppressing their own ability to fight infection.

I get the fight to normalise bf but articles like this do scream of desperateattention seeking.

I am not convinced that breastfeeding at 5 does anything for the immune system. It provides comfort.

I don't even know why we need physical benefits to justify extended breastfeeding.

There are clear emotional benefits for children who want to continue it. That's enough.

There is no research to show any benefits for breast feeding at age 5, or any harms.

And there’s plenty of research to show that sugar, dairy and processed foods are bad for children, yet millions of parents still shovel it into their kids like there’s no tomorrow. I know what I’d rather my 5 year old had!

5 year old kids still need solid food. Breast milk would not be their main source of food.

At some point it's probably healthier for a child to develop their own active immunity rather than gain passive immunity from their mothers breast milk. So I fail to believe that bf at that age would benefit the child, intact I think it's suppressing their own ability to fight infection

Ok, cool - so you have completed studies on this? Are you an expert on such matters or are you just making this up?

There are many, many things people do for their children that they may not ‘need’ or may not provide any health benefits as such. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do them!! And that is in fact if breastfeeding doesn’t provide any nutritional value at all passed a certain age (I would imagine it does) this is purely about you thinking it’s ‘wrong’ as part of a society that sexualises breasts!

So I fail to believe that bf at that age would benefit the child, intact I think it's suppressing their own ability to fight infection

I don't know how you've reached that conclusion, given that the child in question will be doing all the things non breast fed children do to build up their immunity (exposure to germs/dirt).

How would extended breast feeding hinder that?

Well that’s quite obvious. But if a parent is happy to feed their kids crap, why wouldn’t they be happy to give them something that’s nutritionally tailored to them instead? Extended breastfeeding does has positives, sadly there isn’t enough women who do feed past 1/2/3 so there isn’t a lot of UK based research.

A couple of armchair immunologists have just cropped up.

She does it at home a few times a week. It’s not like the child is being kept dependent on her milk. There’s clearly a natural ‘tapering off’. I find it makes me feel a bit uneasy, but I think that’s because as a society we fetishise breasts, and as the mother says, it’s so unusual that we see it as odd. I say, fine.

A couple of armchair immunologists have just cropped up

This!

@fabricwitch

And a child that age doesn't need the nutrition from breast milk, so I do feel it's more for the mother's emotional benefit.

Why would you assume it's for the mother's emotional benefit rather than the child's?

Actually I have a first class degree in biology (from a Russel group uni). The mothers breast milk contains antibodies that will neutralise pathogens in your child's body. The child has not made those antibodies or associated white blood cells) and so if the same pathogen enters again they will have no immunity to it. If they are allows to get poorly and Mount their own immune attack they will have future protection. This is great though for babies who may not have the ability yet to mount their own full immune attack. There are also studies that suggest you don't breastfeed immediately before or after immunisations so the child can respond independently.

I didn't say anything about feeding sweets and crap instead. I agree that is not good.

....blows kiss, hairflick and walks away....

@MammaSchwifty first class bio degree actually. Yours?

Also, to those whose claim that is attention seeking rather than normalising- how else can we normalise things other than drawing attention to them? Surely repeated exposure to people doing thing differently and explaining their reasons why is how things become viewed as normal?