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!!

@abucucat

Thank you for those links. I am going to read them but at 2am my brain is nothing to cope well. I'll get back to you

I was trying to be somewhat light-hearted. Terrible twos and breastfeeding (based on my son's recent tantrum) just seems dangerous! Again, light-hearted. I don't know how long I would have continues feeding for, was very sad when he picked bottle over me

It is normal to comfort a small child and it is normal for a child to have a special bond with a child. Most children this age are (and should be) emotionally reliant on their parents, so I'm not sure why breastfeeding is seen as infantising them. Breastfed children can still be comforted by others, go to nursery, develop independence. Breastfeeding at that age is usually much more sporadic, not like a baby feeding all the time. Dummies/bottles are generally discouraged as they are bad for teeth etc.

It has been said before, but have any of you tried to make a child breastfeed? It doesn't work if they don't want to.

It’s not something I would do. I kept on until 1 1/2 years and ds weaned himself off.

I don’t think it’s a huge deal though, the kid looks comforted by it. I wouldn’t be showing his face off in the paper though!

I'd be interested to know if the Sun (and Daily Mail where this has also appeared) actually have consent from the mother for the article or if they just used the photos and explanation from Instagram. My Dad was in both papers recently, where they stated that they had asked him for a comment but pictures and "comments" were all just taken from another website.

isn’t it absurd that we think taking a cow’s breast milk meant for a baby cow and giving it to a human child is fine, but giving human breast milk to a human child is considered strange?

If the child was suckling straight from a cow I’m sure people would find it odd. Equally, if the child was drinking expressed breast milk or pasteurised powdered breast milk if it existed) I’m sure people wouldn’t find it odd. It’s not WHAT they are drinking, it’s the way it’s being done.

“MyBambi

If she wanted to breastfeed why not pump it out....”

This has to be the stupidest thing I’ve read on here

'then why do both of them need to be naked? Why not have a photo taken of her on the sofa in a shabby dressing gown watching telly while bf-ing? Putting a photo of both of them naked in a national newspaper is downright weird'

I agree actually

She could have just explained she feeds her child in the bath for the reasons she gave. No need for photographic.

Looks bloody uncomfortable to me.

The only weird thing is the mothers complete inability to use insight into the effects of splashing something so intimate and private across a national newspaper. I think this does the opposite to normalising it. It makes extended breast feeding look like an attention seeking exercise.

Of course it does Goat

It reeks of attention seeking

It's actually been v interesting seeing everyone's opinions here. Personally, I have never met anyone who agrees or has breastfed up to that age, so I was expecting more people to be disagreeing with this. Nice to see a different viewpoint.

I think we can mostly agree that the photo is v disturbing however, because of the consent issue raised.

Thanks guys keep em coming

Photo is only disturbing because it's in a public newspaper.

Breastfeeding until the child decides to stop is completely normal and healthy for mother and child. I know several people who breastfed up until 4/5 but weren't open about doing so because of the stigma attached.

Breast milk contains antibodies specifically for your child's needs. That doesn't stop just because they're not a baby.

We are so conditioned to see breasts as a sexual object in this country we confuse that with their primary function.

I love this picture a zoo in Australia put up the other day, try telling that rhino there's no benefit after a year...

My favourite part was when someone compared breastfeeding past the age of 2 to using a child as a chimney sweep. That was highly entertaining. Apparently, using a chimney sweep ‘used to be the biological norm’
This poster clearly doesn’t understand what ‘biological’ means.

Apparently, using a chimney sweep ‘used to be the biological norm

I have enjoyed some of these I admit.

That one made me laugh and then shake mt head too @ethel

Why would anyone post the photo of their child in what is a priva te moment. Poor child doesnt even get a say

We do know that breasts exist only because we have to feed our children, right?
They aren't there as a decoration or as sexual objects. It seems there is some confusion in the minds of 21st century people.
My sister in law wouldn't breastfeed at all because she claimed 'my breasts are for my husband'
Things have become pretty fucked up when people think a man sucking their breasts is acceptable but continuing to use your breasts for nurturing your 5 year old child is wrong and that showing that image is damaging.
It's not that mother who is dysfunctional, it's a society that finds this odd that's bloody dysfunctional.
Let's not condemned those who will ridicule the boy or bully I'm,...Let's condemn his mother eh?

It’s not WHAT they are drinking, it’s the way it’s being done.

Which is our weird and irrational hang up in the West, tbh.

Also, it's not just the way the child is feeding. How many sitcom jokes have there been about how drinking human milk is disgusting?

“My sister in law wouldn't breastfeed at all because she claimed 'my breasts are for my husband'”

I was just sick in my mouth reading that.

I FF but imagine putting your husband’s sexual pleasure over nurturing your child.

Totally inappropriate. By 5 years old all little boys should be moved on to a healthy diet of Page 3, so that they learn that breasts are entirely there as decorations for men. It’ll emotionally damage them beyond repair if they start seeing breasts as something to feed infants with. That little boy might even grow up thinking we’re mammals or something

I FF but imagine putting your husband’s sexual pleasure over nurturing your child.

The strangest bit is that one thing doesn't mean the other can't happen either. It's almost like the man would be jealous he was sharing. Grim.

I breastfed my first til he self-weaned just before he turned four. If he was still wanting to feed at five, I'd have probably kept going.

I would not in a million years have put it in the newspapers! It wasn't a secret, I wasn't ashamed, but FFS why would you do that? Very poor judgment and agree it does nothing at all to normalise natural term breastfeeding.

My sister in law wouldn't breastfeed at all because she claimed 'my breasts are for my husband

That sent a shiver up my spine.

I would not in a million years have put it in the newspapers! It wasn't a secret, I wasn't ashamed, but FFS why would you do that?

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

I was just sick in my mouth reading that

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!'