If you do 'attachment parenting'/BLW will you really let your child breastfeed until any age they do?

[porridgeisbae]

I just started watching this Dr. Phil episode.

If you do 'baby led weaning' or similar, would you really let your child breastfeed or suck on your boob to whatever age they want? Or would you have a cut off point really even if the child wanted to carry it on?

I'm aware that in other cultures they often breastfeed until an older age than we do.

I agree with this too

Is it just the bf you are against?

What if you do blw. Bf but not the Ap?

Is that ok?

Yes, I did.

DC1 was 2yrs 6mo
DC2 was 2yrs 9mo
DC3 was 4yrs 4mo
DC4 was 3yrs 1mo

And what makes bf after a year weird?

This. I couldn’t work out why you were linking blw and extended breastfeeding. Most people will understand blw to mean introducing finger foods instead of purées when a baby starts solids. It doesn’t relate to breast or formula feeding.

My eldest self weaned just after he turned 4. As a previous poster said, it wasn’t my initial plan and would have felt ‘old’ when he was a new born, but it seemed very natural when we were doing it. Currently still feeding his 22 month old sibling.

My two both weaned themselves between 12 and 18 months, but DGS is still going strong at nearly 4, fed on demand day and night.

As a PP said, I think it's more for his DM's benefit than his.

Who the hell still watches Dr. Phil anyway? What about Rikki Lake, is she still going somewhere?

The world health organisation recommends 2 years so not sure where these people saying post 1 year is odd are getting there info from?

What do you want from this thread, @porridgeisbae ?

I think anyone could say that you'd get a range of "yes, I let my DC wean when they wanted, they were 2/3/4/5", etc, plus the predictable "ew breastfeeding after 1?? Discusting! It's just for the mum after that! Baby can have cow's milk?!" which has pretty much already been provided on the first page 🙄

-Dr Phil is a hack

-baby led weaning is a completely different thing

-most children will self wean by 6, that's when they lose their milk teeth and so probably their latch. That's why they're called milk teeth!

Because they want to keep the baby 100% reliant stage going as long as possible. It's really strange, like they are afraid they willl lose their identity if they don't have a babe in arms.

Oh definitely. They're forcing their poor children to keep bfing. Lucky little kids are such biddable and obedient little souls about what they eat, otherwise that would be basically impossible.

Let me guess, you're the MIL?

I find that weird that you even think that! What do you mean in this day and age?!

And armed with teeth beyond the first year, no less.

@HappyAsASandboy congratulations on this amazing achievement!

I wouldn’t say I was particularly an attachment parent (never co-slept, sleep trained - gently, don’t carry them all the time etc) but there is no way I would deliberately stop bf my children. It’s the only (close to) nutritionally perfect food available to them, has astonishing immune system benefits and, as much as people might not want to hear it, longer duration of breastfeeding is associated with higher IQ. There are several studies attesting to the benefits of breastfeeding to natural term; I don’t need to list them here but they will all point to the biologically expected norm that human children wean naturally somewhere between 2 and 7 years. I’m tandem feeding my 18mo and 3yo. Just mornings and evenings/more when actively ill. I don’t enjoy the sensation or the tie (I can’t or won’t miss a single bedtime or wake-up) but it’s part of the commitment I made to them when I had them. They will stop on their own terms. Already my 3yo forgets to ask sometimes… :( but that’s nature right!

You do realise those children do eat food? They're not 100% reliant, but happy active "normal" toddlers.

This is a day and age where the World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding until the age of 2...

And I find it odd when people say there 1 year old self weaned. From all my research, natural weaning doesn't normally happen for a number of years. Often in Western countries weaning happens earlier, due to the introduction of more solids younger Mothers being separated from the baby for long stretches of time, without an alternative care giver to breastfeed. This then forces weaning earlier then would be natural in a more traditional human society.

Both mine weaned at 2 years 11months and 5 years. Never did I start out with the intention to feed this long but it naturally played out like this.
Oh and feeding a toddler is definitely not that fun a lot of the times and I imagine very few mum's start off thinking they will feed this long.

Haha yes ofcourse they do, this is not only an unpopular opinion but an ignorant one too!

@CalistoNoSolo

How do you know that? Have they told you this?

How does that work if they go back to work and just bf baby at say bedtime?

Yes me too. I think maybe they experience a nursing strike and then refuse to restart? Mine still fed tons at that age.

My bingo card is nearly complete. 😂

I fed my last one until she was 3 - she self weaned, very gently gradually dropping feeding as she ate more. I NEVER anticipated that I would feed that long, but it just felt right for us, partly as she has severe dairy intolerance, and I never experienced any negativity IRL.
I think previously I would have been in the, ‘it’s weird, it’s more about the mum than the child’ camp but actually when I experienced it, it was really not a big deal.

Why do you believe that? I'd say it's probably because of your own experience. I don't think it's common for babies to self wean that young. I really want to stop breastfeeding. There is no benefit to me. But my 22 month old still wants it. I don't like to upset him so I'm carrying on. Believe me, I want to stop! He gets very upset when I refuse, which breaks my heart. I'm hoping to be done by the time he's 2, but I'm doubting it'll be easy for us..