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!!

She did not get her child's informed consent, before posting such private pictures in national media.

Nothing wrong with extended breastfeeding.
Nothing wrong with sharing a bath or being naked in front of your own young children.
Misguided to publicise it in a hateful tabloid such as The S*n. You’re only ever going to look like an attention seeking twat that way which is unhelpful.

the photo disturbs me as it shouldn't really be plastered over the sun and im surprised they are legally allowed to

Reading that rag should disturb you full stop, no matter the article or picture. It’ll rot your brain too.

Toooo weird. No no no no! DS is 4, at school, a little person who will remember much of what is happening in life now! What a weird memory breast feeding from your mother would be(?) especially naked (?)

No no no no no

the photo disturbs me as it shouldn't really be plastered over the sun and im surprised they are legally allowed to

The Sun? Do they still have page 3?

Bf a child is the most natural thing in the world for a mum and child who have been doing it from birth. A child naturally weans between 4 and 7. I was told its impossible for a child to bf once adult teeth come in. That's why first Teeth are called milk teeth so if that's when infant teeth are replaced makes perfect sense that's when children should feed until. Gets my goat. If you don't bf you are a failure, if you bf too long you're a perv. Once again women can't win!

I wondered about that too TittyGolightly. Horror! Woman gets breasts out to feed child. A few pages down, different woman gets breasts out to tittilate men and that’s totally normal.....

I know there was a strong campaign not that long ago to remove Page 3 and I think it may have been successful. I won’t tuch that particular paper though so I’m not sure.

“Nothing wrong with longer term breastfeeding or bath sharing with little ones. An awful lot wrong with taking pics of it and putting them in a newspaper”

Yup. She’s just shown a total disregard for her child’s privacy. That picture is now on the Internet forever now, for future schoolmates, colleagues, partners to stumble upon after googling his or his mum’s name. And you can bet that if she’s a mummy-blogger, there will be a Mum at secondary school who will let slip to her child about the embarrassing content on her old Instagram account.

Each to their own but strange to send a naked picture of yourself and your child to the Sun

That picture is now on the Internet forever now, for future schoolmates, colleagues, partners to stumble upon after googling his or his mum’s name.

What name would you google for him?

Comparing page 3 in the sun where a consenting adult has chosen to model to a young naked child who hasn't consented is actually incomparable.

Consent consent consent !

So the bath photo is ‘disturving’ To you on the grounds of issues around consent of the 5 year old @cleopatracomingatya? If that’s the case I can’t say I disagree with you but your OP doesn’t make that clear.

It is compatible if we’re talking about explicitly showing breasts for different purposes.

So, the question is really, is it breastfeeding a 5 year old, the nudity, the bath sharing or the perceived lack of consent that’s bothersome?

Comparible!

I’m ironically BFing my wriggly child hence typos

Shows how far removed we are from nature now when women are almost repulsed seeing another woman feeding her child in a way that's comfortable for them both. They decide the woman is dysfunctional!
Then we have those who are not actually repulsed but decide the woman must be an attention seeker! Doesn't cross their mind she is proud of doing something natural and may want to raise awareness?
Your feelings and reactions to the picture reflect something about YOU....not the woman in the picture.
Could be that her instincts are a lot more natural than yours?

Meh.

The only thing that bothers me is people plastering their kids all over high-profile public social media and the press. Bleurgh, what about the child's right to it's own privacy?

What a weird memory breast feeding from your mother would be

Studies have been done on children old enough to remember breastfeeding and to articulate those memories.

They showed no sign of emotional damage, and they remember breastfeeding fondly and wistfully as a lovely and special time for them.

That picture is now on the Internet forever now, for future schoolmates, colleagues, partners to stumble upon after googling his or his mum’s name

Which is sad...not because there is anything wrong with the picture, but because there are so many ignorant, inhibited people who may target the boy because they have nasty minds.

Interested in this - not sure what I think yet - will read article

What name would you google for him?

I just googled the what I assume his full name is and breastfeeding and articles from the sun, mirror and Mail came up. All it will take is a school friend's mum saying 'wasn't he in a paper for breastfeeding?' and his friends will find it in minutes.

What a weird memory breast feeding from your mother would be(?) especially naked (?)

My DD remembers breastfeeding. She remembers it as a lovely special time. It isn’t any different from any child remembering how they were fed.

what I assume his full name is

Of course. Because it’s the mother’s surname and his first name.

Try searching for Max Smith. See if you find the same pictures.

I think misguided is the right word, re putting this in the Sun. Presumably the mother thought it might be a good way of normalising / promoting longer term breastfeeding, but unfortunately I don't think the majority of the audience is really in the right place to receive that message! It is also unfortunate that her child is being splashed across the Sun in this way.

I breastfed my first child until her fifth birthday (where we mutually agreed she would stop), and my second to about four years and three months (and he self-weaned). I would not want this fact to be shared with the Sun, or any other national newspaper for that matter. Post toddlerdom it was a v private matter and down to my and my children's choices.

It is certainly unusual to feed to this age, but it is culturally unusual (in the UK at least) rather than biologically unusual. I think sharing that some women do breastfeed beyond toddlerhood, and it isn't some kind of weird or shameful issue, is absolutely fine and important. Unfortunately I don't think the Sun is the right medium to convey that message! And I don't really like the idea of putting pictures of your breastfeeding child out in the public domain fullstop.

I have absolutely no judgement on a mother choosing to bathe with her child or still breastfeed them at this age.

I will, however, pass judgment for her thinking it is ok to put these pictures in a national newspaper! Or anywhere in the public domain, for that matter!

Bollocks is this ‘normalising’ it. How is putting something in ‘The Sun’ making it normal?! I think it does the opposite and maybe even causes more harm than good when it comes to negative attitudes to bf!

The article is actually good when I read it, poor choice of newspaper though. And the bath picture is beautiful... but I do think it should be private.

I think it’s actually probably biologically very normal. Before contraception it probably helped space your children too. I wouldn’t (and didn’t) past early toddlerhood, but that’s more out of social stigma that actually me thinking there is anything wrong with it.

I don't think it's fair of the mum to put him in the newspaper like this.

Otherwise who cares?

Is there something weird about bathing with your child? I bath with my 2yo all the time, didnt think it was outlandish.