Is it just a societal norm? (Breastfeeding related)

[Emerald95]

Inspired by last night's controversial opinions thread.
Many women on the thread were saying breastfeeding your child after 6m/1y/2y was weird and by that age a child should be on cow's milk.

I think it is odd to take away the milk made for your baby, and replace it with a cow's breastmilk made for a calf.
Why is giving a child cow's breast milk so normalised? Is it simply because that is what that generations before have done and thus become a societal norm?

I am not a vegan, or even a vegetarian. I am not against consuming animal products but it just seems very weird to be swapping milk produced by a mother for her specific child for milk made by a cow for her calf.

I understand when a child is older and away from their mother for longer periods of time at nursery ect that cow's milk would then be easier. But when the child is mainly at home with their mother, say under the age 3, why should she choose a cow's breastmilk over her own?

Those who hold the view that young children should move onto cow's milk instead of breastfeeding, why?

YABU- Cow's milk is better for a young child
YANBU- Swapping a young child from their mother's Breastmilk to Cow's breastmilk is weird

I know someone who BF until child was 3. They did a whole thing as he could actually understand it. I say go for it, I really wish I could've BF and if you're able to do it for that long then that's amazing!

I think your assertion that children are mainly at home with mum until they are 3 is wrong. I BF until just over a year at which point I went back to work and ds went to nursery and was also looked after by grandparents. Most families in our area have two working parents. I was also unable to successfully express I could do it but it took ages for a very small amount, I don't think I could've pumped enough for 4 days a week.

He was also using an open flow sippy cup by then and eating 3 square meals a day plus snacks. He grew disinterested before I did.

The poster who first stated it has an interesting posting history. Suffice to say, she doesn’t have children, and doesn’t understand the weaning process.

I see SO many threads on here from posters who say they’re “exclusively breastfeeding,” but then their posts almost inevitably go on to say they give a bottle of formula every evening! 😂

I never tried to breast feed as I didn’t want to - why would I need to try and make myself feel better when I did things the way I wanted to? What am I supposed to try and make myself feel better about?
Healthy and happy babies = happy parents.

I’ve only read to the bottom of the first page yet I can’t believe nobody has pointed out that the advice is that you need to give formula up until age 1 in place of breastfeeding. It’s only after the first year that it can be replaced with cow’s milk.

Yea sure! Because deep down you know breastfeeding is better …. which it is.

In nature mammals aim to get their offspring to be independent so they can get on with having more offspring. So I'm guessing there is a strong natural tendancy to follow nature. Pre contraception most mums would be unable to feed 2 or 3 at a time you wean the older ones to feed the new.

I tried bf my son. I gave it my best shot, but it just didn’t happen.

I didn’t beat myself up about it.

I know what I did was the best thing for my DC’s, me and our family. DC’s are now in their mid 20’s so I have the advantage of seeing how well it worked.
You make lots of decisions as parents but have no regrets of how we decided to feed our babies.
I feel sorry that you have so little consideration for decisions others make.

Both my kids when to nursery at 9mo as I went back to work. Me and partner work full time and I couldn't express either. I still carried on breastfeeding when babies were with me, they just had water when at nursery. Just to say that you don't have to be a SAHM to carry on bf, you can make it work anyway it suits you - and stopping when it suits you is perfectly valid too. This is not a dig at all - just that often, when mothers say they bf for long, a lot of people just assume theyre SAHM and that's the only way to make it work.

My DC’s are perfectly healthy so nothing negative about the decision. Hopefully you will be as lucky that your children grow up as healthy as mine.

Humans are very good at putting down anyone who sets foot outside of the box of conformity. Thus, if the vast majority of the population drinks cows' milk, that is what you should do, and you're an oddball for preferring goats' milk or vegan versions.

Cows' breasts are called udders. They also produce a lot more milk than the average breastfeeding mother... like, up to 40 litres a day (depending on their stages of lactation and subsequent pregnancies), for years on end. They are believed to produce colostrum for the first 3 days (which is fed to their calf/calves), and then it is accepted as normal milk. Also, I read (in a book about dairy animals) that milk is the best thing that you can have, as it contains traces of virtually all vitamins and minerals, with the exceptions of things like iron and B12.

Furthermore, a lot of families can't afford to have one parent stay at home up until their child goes to full-time nursery or school, and I imagine that it's easier for nurseries to give everyone cows' milk rather than sorting through a vast array of breastmilk in bottles labelled with the children's names!

Yes I was the same I cut dairy out for 18m surprisingly ds didn’t want the milk that smelt like rotting fish.

I’m not sure why it’s such an issue in the uk maybe because of the big push on formula over the last 50 years. It’s seen as weird/obscene to bfreast feed an older child. I bf ds until 15m and it was his choice to ween. A friend bf her son until he has 2 (21 months corrected) a doctor said she should stop at 18 m as he didn’t need it anymore.

It's purely a sex thing.
Breasts are seen as sexual in current society rather than for feeding infants. Society kind of makes an exception for a few months after birth and then when people see breasts they think sex.
It makes people feel uncomfortable that a 6/12/24 month old is involved in something they primarily see as 'for sex'.

I hate dummy's for toddlers lots of research on the damage they do.

Yep the human 'norm' would be carrying/feeding on demand for the first maybe 2-3 years or so and then having another baby. So typically 3-5 years between babies.
Chimpanzees breastfeed for 4-5 years and Orangutans for 6-7 years.

Wow people were saying it was odd for a 6 month old to still be breastfed??

I've only seen anti BF comments on MN. Breast is best, many on here can't or won't breastfeed and seem to resent those who do.

In a lot of cultures which are still living in more traditional ways age gaps are around 3-4 years due partly to breastfeeding and this gap is considered the best for children.

Yes, so ridiculous 🙄

You obviously haven’t seen the threads where those of us who chose to use formula are criticised for being selfish, bad parents, giving your babies a poor start in life - basically a load of rubbish!