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.

i bully support long term BFing but at some point isn't it helpful for a child to find ways to self soothe or otherwise fall asleep without relying on it?

sorry - fully

Goodnightmoon ok so what age do you think a child should learn to fall asleep without milk just interested.

@thesecondcoming

I was out with my 2 and half year old last week all day for a long day while we were out she asked for her dummy am I wrong for giving it to her? She uses it to have a nap, sorry but you are wrong to judge any one, forget about knowing the full story or not. Each to their own and all, surely I'd be justified in thinking you were nasty parent as you wouldn't give your child it's comfort as it is 'infantilising' them. I know I sucked my thumb at night to fall asleep for ages especially if I was in strange environments, were my parents bad as they didn't train me not to do that?

YABVU, if you don't want to ebf don'; no one is making you but don't judge others as they are only do what they think is best for their child as I'm sure you do.

To answer that one for Goodnightmoon, preferably when they start pre school. I personally cannot understand anyone wanting to demand feed especially at night breast/bottle when young ones enter pre school. I was so desperate to get my sleep back personally, the more milk I was giving dd at night the more she was waking up for it. When i just offered her water he sleep was much better, it becomes a habit tbh.

The milk at night stopped just before she turned 3, I had enough broken nights when there need not be really. She was not ill, just demanding milk all through the night.

Ok pigletmania that opinion does not bother me because the reason you think 3 is too old is because you think they need to stop in time for school and that it also count for bottles . I am aware that everyone has different ages that they think it is time to stop milk and I only object to be called weird like I am doing something perverted .

DD still 3 likes milk so has it in sports bottle, and likes it regularly throughout the day even if we are out. I just would not want to whip out my boobs all the time, especially in the street or in the shopping centre at this stage, thats why I said that I would bf till 2 if I could. Just would not feel comfortable with it myself though others will probably say otherwise. Either that or experss as much as i could for her in her sports bottle and cows milk that rest.

@ Faithless. TSC isn't exactly judging ebf - IIRC, she bf until her 2 DDs self-weaned and intends to do the same with DC3 so she's hardly an example of an anti-BFeeder who thinks all babies should be weaned by 6m latest (I'm not stalking you TSC, promise! I have just found some of your forthright posts refreshing so they've stuck in my mind!), she's just saying in her opinion it's unnecessary after a certain age.

I think her point is more about whether doing certain things - ebf in the daytime particularly, using dummies or bottles past a certain age etc - is infantilising children. She's not saying it's 'weird' or makes anyone a bad parent. It's just her view and one I personally thought worth talking about.

Oh no slushy I do not see it as weird or creepy I hate those terms and its not nice tbh, and would never call you that, I just see it as moving onto the next stage kind of thing. I do however find the person in a mag who bf their dh and 13 year old a bit odd tbh and something I definitely do not agree with. The 13 year old should definitely not be bf imo.

As TSC has said really.

slushy - i don't have an age in mind, but was only responding to the prior post that someone wanted to stop but didn't like the alternative that her child would cry. My toddler wants lots of things and cries when he doesn't get them. IMO there are lots of other ways to soothe a three-year-old to sleep, or to encourage their self soothing.
FWIW, i BF my son before bed until 17 months, but i wouldn't say he needed it get to sleep, as he was happy to have bedtime with daddy, auntie, grandma, etc.

Perhaps that unusual lady was of Mongolian descent?

I recently found out a friend was BF to age 6. That was quite a suprise. Her mother had another child when friend was 2 and 4, she had been BF to then and just keep on going to six.

I wonder how her Mum's titis didn't twist of their hinge feeding three children for that long.

I'm with you goodnightmoon. It's lovely and also useful for close family and friends to be able to put your children to bed, so whilst there's not a certain age where I'd say all children should be able to fall to sleep without being fed, it's something I personally think it's worthwhile aiming for at some point - if you want to.

Yup, I think it's weird.

But it's a free country, and a mother's right to ebf trumps my thinking it's weird.

I recently found out a friend was BF to age 6. That was quite a suprise. Her mother had another child when friend was 2 and 4, she had been BF to then and just keep on going to six.

I wonder how her Mum's titis didn't twist of their hinge feeding three children for that long.

'Oh no slushy I do not see it as weird or creepy I hate those terms and its not nice tbh, and would never call you that, I just see it as moving onto the next stage kind of thing.' I gathered that you didn't find it creepy

' I do however find the person in a mag who bf their dh and 13 year old a bit odd tbh and something I definitely do not agree with. The 13 year old should definitely not be bf imo.'

Personally disagree with dp being bf myself more than the teenage child.
You say you wouldn't want to whip your boob out during the day but it becomes like second nature after you have been whipping it out 10 times a day for a year. You also get a lot better at being discreet IME I never thought I would bf ds as long as I did it just happened, you may find you feel differently if you were to have another child and a easier time bf (sorry for the tough time you had btw)

slushy - i don't have an age in mind, but was only responding to the prior post that someone wanted to stop but didn't like the alternative that her child would cry. My toddler wants lots of things and cries when he doesn't get them. IMO there are lots of other ways to soothe a three-year-old to sleep, or to encourage their self soothing. I understand I thought you meant there should be a cut off point for ebf .

My experience of extended feeding was that it wasn't something I had to do 'all the time' and I don't remember being asked for 'booba' when we were out. I found that once DS hit 18 months he was much more interested with what was 'out there' than having a feed.
He would generally just have a drink of water from a cup when out.
The main feed was morning and evening and it just gradually tailed off until it stopped.
I did notice that after he stopped he seemed to pick up colds a lot more.
I returned to work part-time after a year and the feeding fitted around it pretty easily.
I know that children of 5 and 6 still have the odd feed in Africa. They just have a quick swig and back to what they were doing.

I hate quoting posts but I have to take issue with this:

'IMO there are lots of other ways to soothe a three-year-old to sleep, or to encourage their self soothing.
FWIW, i BF my son before bed until 17 months, but i wouldn't say he needed it get to sleep, as he was happy to have bedtime with daddy, auntie, grandma, etc.'

Goodnightmoon - if you could convince ds2 that there are other ways, I would be very grateful. Please don't assume I haven't tried other things.

Also it is lovely that you have had such a wonderful support system to help your son get used to bedtime without milk. Unfortunately as I said, I don't have that so it has been a big struggle.

I agree that obviously a child needs to be able to sleep by itself at some stage but I found ds1 did this immediately he began school. Before that he had needed his bottle or a dummy to sleep, but once he was so tired he just went out like a light.

I'm sure it'll happen with ds2 as well, when he is ready. It isn't something I tend to stress too much about, it's very rare to see a breastfeeding 10yo or even 5yo - other things take the place of the boob.

It's not having an immediately available substitute that has phased me this time around.

Cakes - thankyou, that's a very sweet offer!

I agree Slushy might have felt differently if i had bf for longer who knows , The dh bf is a bit too, but each to their own really.

"' I do however find the person in a mag who bf their dh and 13 year old a bit odd tbh and something I definitely do not agree with. The 13 year old should definitely not be bf imo."

Huh? What? They bf their dh? Why? Why would anyone do that? I also think bfing a 13 yo is definitely crossing over into 'Bitty' territory. Big time.

She was Caucasian, I think British, although I skimread the article at work whilst trying to hold my jaw closed, so I could be wrong about the nationality.

Well I never.