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 don't think OP was trying to be nasty, and actually I don't blame her for having that view - I definitely don't agree with her view, but it's not her fault, it's the culture isn't it. As others have said we're more comfortable with topless models than breastfeeding

FWIW I thought BFing past 6m or so was weird, til I had my DD. BFing her was so difficult and a struggle for 8m. Had DS and thank goodness it's worked out better, he's nearly 10m and I'm hoping to get to 2 at least. It's what the WHO recommends anyway - why wouldn't I? As a personal choice, I don't intend to carry on with demand-feeding (any time he cries or whatever) - but wouldn't judge other people who do.

I really, really wish I'd known some of the longer-term BFers when I had my first (I didn't know any BFers at all!) - I would've carried on longer

as an aside, please don't worry about teeth! I was worried when DS got 6 teeth by 3m (he was a big baby) but the biting phase can be quick if you work hard to stop it.

The reason that women have to study it and become all genned up on it is that they get far too many "Uuuutgh, it's weird" comments.

And after a while, after the constant "Uuuurgh" has pushed them to spend ages looking into the subject, and they have spent years calmly and patiently explaining what the scientific evidence is, how it works in practice within a mother-child relationship, what the proven health benefits are to the child and to the mother, and that yes, the WHO does recommend breastfeeding to at least two years no matter how much you wish to assert that it says six months, only to find that all of this calm reasonable polite rationality apparently serves only as further evidence of their weirdness because it's turning it into a "hobby", they have often had enough and start just telling people to fuck off instead.

Shirly, you're thinking of goats.

OP - I first breastfed my son when he was a few minutes old, and I have breastfed him at intervals of a few hours since then for 2 years and 3 months. Obviously, now he is bigger there are longer gaps, but we are still talking hours, not days between feeds. You say in your op that breastfeeding a 7 month old is okay, so presumably it becomes "wierd" at some point after that? How does it work exactly? Is one feed fine and then the next feed a few hours later wierd? I feel I ought to find out.

OMG are you for real? YABVU

Is anyone going to answer my question, how exactly is it all about the mother? I am interested to know.

what does 'in public' have to do with anything? if it's reasonable for a child to be breastfed, why should the mother not be able to do this in public? or IS there something wrong with feeding children over a certain age - Bonsoir says she doesn't find extended breastfeeding odd

No weirder than giving a 2 year old animal milk as far as I can see - in a "natural" state humans breastfed up to three or four years didn't they?

I'm sure there's been other threads on this but what really gets to me is how a lot of doctors seem to think it's weird to BF past 6m or so. FGS - your absolute superiors (WHO) tell you it's not! why do GPs get away with saying such rubbish?

I love feeding my nearly 9 mo DD, and the thought of stopping makes me quite teary. But, sometimes I look at her and think that the whole thing is a bit weird. Not as weird as having grown her in my belly, mind... Or what DP and I did to magic her into existence in the first place, for that matter.

We live in a culture that is so far removed from the natural, animal world we evolved in, our perspective is quite often warped.

And you can't judge these things by looking at your own non-nursing toddler and thinking how odd it would be to breastfeed them.

DS self-weaned at 3.2, DD self-weaned at around 20-21 months. DD is now 26 months and the idea of breastfeeding her now feels very odd to me. But DS at the same age was still breastfeeding and wouldn't stop for another year, and that didn't feel weird at all. You don't just start nursing a toddler from scratch one day, which would be a bit odd.

YABU.

But then I bet someone out there thinks feeding a 6 month old is weird.

Or breast feeding at all is weird. IMO you have ishoos if seeing a toddler feed makes you come over all strange.

DD very sick at birth, couldn't feed, took a lot of love and hard work to manage to bf her during long hospital stay. Now she's 8 months, docs say if she wasn't still bf her illnesses would all be much worse. I intend to bf as long as possible, well past two if I can, as her immune system needs it. I'll also inevitably be doing it quite a lot in public. I'm not weird.

what exactly counts as extended BF in this country anyway? I think it's 6 or 12m isn't it?

because that definition should change, I think worldwide the average age of self-weaning is 3 or 4. so beyond that is extended, a year or 2 is positively normal!

or it should be seen as such anyway

Bertie - I tried to answer that bit but gave up because I couldn't do so without exessive use of the emoticon.

I am still bfing a very demanding 2yo milk-monster who I would dearly love to wean but it ain't happening.

Wow. So now 2 years is Extended BF!!! It used to be 3 or 4 years for the [horror] did'nt it??
Or am I a dinosaur....

yeah Bertie of course it's all about the mother

that's why my son still wears nappies as well, it's for MY benefit

and playing with toys instead of going out to work - it's all about me, it's meeting my needs, not his, I just want to keep him a baby

Next time 20 mo DD clambers up onto my lap shrieking 'booby, booby!!' I shall remember that I am forcing her into it for my own benefit.

I think the OP was saying it looks a bit weird, and let's face it, it isn't really the norm (at least not where I live), so it can make you sit up and take notice.

I don't disapprove of it, and would strongly encourage extended breastfeeding, but I actually think it does look a bit weird - and i am speaking as someone whose DS didn't wean til he was 2, and would have gone on a lot longer I think, but I had had enough by then and sort of forced the issue.

Why do so many people take such umbrage at someone who has a different opinion to them? All the aggressive, angry responses take the , IMO.

oh sorry diamonds, we're saying the same thing then

I don't see how it's for the mother either. I'm very glad we kicked the night-feed habit a while ago. I know a lot of people give up BF because they're so tired from the nights.

when you have been sniped at many times, sneered at, told you are weird, creepy, selfish, lazy, perverted, freaky, etc etc etc, you do tend to get a bit defensive

i also find people usually don't enjoy having their parenting choices criticised, whatever they are
people don't usually welcome personal comments with open arms saying "oh i am SO glad you TOLD me you find the way i care for my child is odd and makes you feel a bit creepy"

The WHO recommends BF until at least 2 years old so it's hardly without benefit to the child.

As long as no one is asking YOU to bf a 2 year old then where's the problem? Surely there are things we all do things that other people find a bit weird but we don't feel the need to comment on them?

I can still remember the discomfort I felt when pre-children I saw a woman breast feeding a toddler in public. When I had DS1 I fed him until he was much older than that. You only fed your child until they were 7 months old so of course you are likely to feel that anything more than the age you chose to stop, is excessive.

I know someone who breast fed her son until he was 4 purely because of the extra calories burned so in her case it was for the mother.