To think BF-ing a 2yr old is, um, weird?

[Lucy85]

Well what do you think? I know it's a very emotive subject, but I've seen it a couple of times and it makes me come over all strange.
I BFed my baby exclusively until 7 months when I went back to work, but the thought of doing it now is just plain odd, - not wrong, it's just I can't imagine doing it to someone who can walk, talk, get their own drinks, eats proper food and is too big to lie sideways on my lap.

Well this from DD2 aged three and half asleep last night." Mama your booa are so lovely and soft and silky and so yummy yummy I love booa Mama"(Booa is her word for breasts/breastmilk) I did mention that maybe she should stop feeding soonish as she is getting a big girl and she looked at me in utter horror and said "Why?".So for me? I don't think so.I'd quite like to be kipping of a night and back in a bra size under a FF cup.But I don't care enough either way to force her to stop when she so clearly doesn't want to.YABU,I think its weird that anyone would mind a mother feeding an infant.And I feel sad that this sort of statement makes it really really hard to bf a baby in public over about a year,and means that many women simply feed in secret at home.My DD never asks for a feed in the day unless she is really really upset,but I still wouldn't feed her anywhere but home or the car because I would worry about her hearing a negative comment and getiing upset.

MillyR - you've actually made my day!!!

I do not, and never have had any pleasure from having my breasts/nipples touched. DH isn't really a boobs man anyway so it's not an issue - and no, he doesn't mind that my boobs belong to DS at the moment! I did in my late teens enjoy showing off my huge ample cleavage though

seriously though - until your earlier post I thought I was a right freak for not 'feeling anything'. now I feel a bit reassured

I do actually wonder if that contributed to my BFing difficulties first time though? I wasn't really familiar with my breasts IYSWIM.

OP, wish my 2 year old could get his own drinks. What does yours get? Can he reach the fridge? Taps? Impressive. Bit weird perhaps.

Btw, YABVU and clearly have not travelled at all, or read anything of any other culture except the tiny island we live on.

I wonder if Lucy8. Works for a formula milk company,

lol iamanewmum31

s'pose that the advertising of follow-on milk doesn't help i.e. it's normal to have no breastmilk after 6m.

e.g. that aptamil ad? "when you decide to move on from BFing..." bollocks. what they're saying is hey, you can stop BFing now and our follow-on gives your baby the same goodness

i was wonderiong the other day,. whilst nursing ds3 whether the reason we (most of us) like having our breasts touched is because of breastfeeding
maybe it's supposed to feel good when you feed your baby
and if it feels good then it's going to feel good when other people touch them too which is just an added bonus?

don#t really get the whole belonging to partner/baby thing myself. I can breastfeed a baby and still "allow" dp to touch them in a sexual way.... breastfeeding and enjoying having your breasts touched by your partner are not mutually exclusive

I apologise for getting my maths wrong. I was breast fed by a chimp so I don't know what went wrong, I really don't.

Not for long enough obviously.

Apart from my personal terror of BF an infant with teeth I think it's a positive thing. While reading up on the subject in the past hour or so I found some brilliant info from WHO and other sources.

According to a book written by health writer Ann Sinnott,

"The natural weaning age is actually six. That's when children lose their milk teeth, have a solid bone structure and a developed immune system."

In the animal kingdom apparently that is the point at which the infants stop feeding from their mother.

I knew Anne sinnott slightly,and her daughter,then aged about seven or eight ,was a completely delightful and well adjusted child,just a lovely lovely little girl,clearly not traumatised by having been bf until six.

animals don't get two sets of teeth........ or do they

monkeys/gorillas/chimps do i believe... our closest relatives!

Of course they do! Do you think their tiny baby teeth would fit into their adult jaws? I have my dogs puppy teeth in a little box,they are minute!

A friend of a friend is a nursery nurse working with disadvantaged families. One mother was still breastfeeding her 3 year old child whose father was in prison at the time. Social workers were very concerned that it was a form of abuse No question that it might have been comforting to the child whose daddy had disappeared from his home.

I don't see her much, bit if I did I would be very wary of letting her know I am still bf'ing my 17 month old.

I agree MathsMadMummy. The rules on follow on formula advertising in the UK are too be tightened soon. When the law comes into place those follow on adverts will not be allowed on when any UK programme is on. I guess the advertisers will need to step up their game to get people to buy their product. I love MN but it saddens me deeply when I see threads like this.

i have definitely heard about professionals saying that mums must get a sexual reaction from BFing. agree it says more about them than the mum or baby!

good info about the new law newmum, thanks

I have a really confident friend who is a hot-shot city lawyer,uber glamourous,super bright,and she told hardly anyone that she was still bf her toddler,my godson,then aged three,because of the reactions.How sad is that?

See: info.babymilkaction.org/pressrelease/pressrelease22may10
about the new law. I don't go on MN often but I am guessing that there will be lots morevnegative threads about BF (if there isn't already). The whole thing saddens me

In the one corner, we have WHO, UNICEF, the NHS, the AAP and a whole bunch of researchers who have consistently found that breastfeeding beyond the first year has significant benefits for a baby. Plus my own instinct as a mother and the fact that my 18 month old asks for a feed regularly.

In the other, we have a couple of randoms who think it is a bit 'icky' or 'weird' for reasons they can't explain but may or may not be to do with sexual fetishisation of the breasts. They have also chosen to mock people who educate themselves about breastfeeding so are willfully ignorant.

It's not difficult to pick, is it? YABU. Very unreasonable. But you know that and you don't care. Worry about your own problems and stop harassing others who are doing the best thing for their babies.

You can say what you like TSC, but it sounds like you mean that breastmilk is a substitute for, what? cow's milk? Breastmilk is better for humans than other milk. The advice certainly applies to every country.

And we are apes.

These toddlers aren't being exclusively breastfed you know. Milk forms part of a balance diet. Why choose cow over human?

And apes are a class of primates including humans.

TSCIt would depend for me personally if dd went on nursing strike post 12months I would see it as self weaning express for a few days to be sure she doesn't have a tummy ache or some such and wait to see if she asks for it again if not tally ho I get to wear nice supportive wired bras . Before 12months I would try to get her to feed because I don't want to give her formula if I can help it. But that is what I would do I don't judge what others do.

It's not just WHO. All the leading authorities support feeding after 1 year. In developed countries, the NHS (UK), AAFP and AAP (US)all acknowledge it is significantly beneficial.

Your theory on nursing strikes is interesting but not borne out by research. If what you say is true, nursing strikes would be permanent and the baby would lose its latch.