to think that allowing a six year old to suck her mothers breasts when she has NOT been breast feeding for years is wrong?

[toffetwist]

I have a friend. Who recently told me that she lets her 6 year old child suck her breasts. She is not breast feeding her and has not for years.

I am disturbed. Am I right to be? What do I do?

yes I know TL, I was being silly, sorry.

No sorries allowed!! ps is there a plural of sorry??

Well, I did a course as breastfeeding helper and I'm told by the midwife who trained me that if breasts are stimulated they will make milk. That's how some grandmothers can achieve breastfeeding if mother can't and that's how an adoptive mum managed to bf a small baby even if she was never pregnant. The only thing is that at some point the child loses the ability to suck, so not sure what happens with a six year old. Although I have heard of mothers bfeeding a school-age child. I would ring a breastfeeding counsellors. The NCT, Leche League and BF network have lines. Just google them.

The mean age worldwide of weaning from the breast is between 3 and 7 YEARS. It is therefore quite normal in some cultures for children older than what we regard as school age, to breastfeed. The child in the instance we are discussing may have been weaned a long time ago, but it doesn't make her behaviour unnatural - just against the norm for our culture.

Elasticwoman - That much touted world average breastfeeding age is WRONG, as discussed and debunked on this thread.

Here is the WHO Global Data Bank on Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding.

Here are some average breastfeeding duration figures by countries:

Africa:
Algeria: 14 months
Angola: 25 months
Botswana: 19 months
Burundi: 24 months
Cameroon: 19 months
Congo: 19 months
Ivory Coast: 20 months
Congo: 9 months
Ethiopia: 25 months
Ghana: 22 months
Kenya: 21 months
Liberia: 17 months
Mozambique: 22 months
Namibia: 17 months
Uganda: 23 months
Zimbabwe: 19 months

American Region:
Belize: 6 months
Colombia: 16 months
Nicaragua: 18 months

Eastern Mediterranean:
Afghanistan: 17 months
Bahrain: 15 months

South East Asia:
Bangladesh: 25 months
India: 28 months
Indonesia: 24 months
Myanmar: 27 months
Nepal: 29 months
Sri Lanka: 23 months

Western Pacific Region:
Cambodia: 24 months
Fiji: 7 months
Lao: 16 months
Papua New Guinea: 21 months

I spent a bit of time on it and the maximum country average duration of breastfeeding I could find was Nepal with 29 months (population: 28 mn). Meanwhile China's average is 4 months (population: 1.4 billion).

So where are the countries that are supposed to pull global average towards 3 years, let alone 7 years???

How very strange? Cant imagine why she would let her? It sounds odd and disturbing

Did the OP ever reappear?

Coted'Azur - thanks for putting me right on that. I didn't see the other thread before.

I also heard it said that if left to their own devices, children will self-wean anywhere between age 1 year and 7. But as so few children worldwide are bf after toddler age, it seems a difficult assertion to prove.

I remain unshocked by a 6 year old asking to breastfeed, although if the child were mine, admit I'd not be encouraging it.

No, I wouldn't encourage it either. But if the child was asking persistently then I'd certainly consider it carefully.

the child is going through her parents divorcing. Do you have any idea how distressing that is? I was twelve and started sleeping in my mother's bed every night, I could not sleep without her. I suppose you think that is sexual too.

It sounds like they have enough problems without people like you getting the SS involved. Butt out.

A lot of people have seem to have jumped to conclusions here, who has said anything about SS?

The child is obviously regressing due to the traumatic events within her family. I just feel there are so many other ways this child can be comforted, I would worry about the child becoming confused and distressed when the breast is eventually taken away for good.