Yesterday I was in the same room as several mothers who nurse their school aged children

[Babieseverywhere]

This was the annual LLL social coffee morning for nursing mothers of children over 4 years old !
It was so nice to discuss the good and bad points about nursing older children. :D

Roll on next year :)

activate - it used ot be used for natural child spacing so in fact there would be bigger gaps and children BF til 4/5/6

yes natural contraception is well known to give 4 year age gaps of course it is

the face was of course implied in my last post - meaning what rot

activate - you say "Because babies used to have to make way for the next ones along and it would not be normal for a 4 or 5 year old to be breastfeeding when they have a 3, 2, 1 year old sibling "

This is of course true in some cultures, some of the time.

But even now, especially in pre-industrial societies, it is absolutely usual for a child of this age to continue breastfeeding, sometimes alongside a younger sibling. In some societies, the older one is fully weaned as soon as the next pregnancy is known about. In other societies, this is not the case.

It's daft to talk about 'the past' as if it was all the same.

What we know, from current observations, from paintings and pictures from the past, from archeology and knowledge of ancient and not-so-ancient cultures, is that it is normal for children to continue to breastfeed for longer than the current 21st century western expectation (at a guess, some time around 6 mths of age) - breastfeeding to 4, 5 and 6 is not unusual at all if you take a historical and anthropological view :)

to you too. Obviously you hahve read up on it

thanks Tiktok :) That's what I wanted ot say but didn't have the time to type.

I love bfing, and plan to do so until DD is 1.5-2. I can't imagine bfing her till she's even 3, but that is my choice and others are free to do what's best for their families.

IME (and this thread is so far not contradicting this), people who have ANY strongly-held negative views about bfing usually haven't got the foggiest idea what they're talking about. It's the once who are pro who have bothered to do any research.

So can we have an end to ignorant proselytising, please? Just read up a bit - don't rely on that biased C4 documentary for your informati

...information!

activate - you sound confident in your knowledge, but you have no reason to be.

In societies without artificial means of contraception, and where there is ad lib breastfeeding, the age gap between live children is something between two and four years.

The contraceptive effect of breastfeeding (which is real, because of the suppression of ovulation with bf) is enhanced when women may be marginally or at least not over-nourished. It's less likely to work as efficiently as this when women are well-fed.

Dear WoTmania

if you expect breastfeeding to protect you from conceiving when your baby is over 6 months, you are not exclusively breastfeeding and your periods have returned good luck

Tiktok - yes daft to talk about the past but that was a response to the previous poster saying oh this is what was done in the past and isn't it natural - breastfeeding to 4, 5 or 6 was unusual when there were multiple younger children

but as I say I reall don't care

the contraceptive effect of breastfeeding is effective when periods have not returned - it is dangerous to say otherwise

Fine not to care, activate.

Usually, 'not caring' means also knowing when to stay silent on a topic one is ignorant of.

Not in your case, it appears, though.

I very much enjoy the notion of forcing a child to bf. It being 'all about the mother'. Because I have some little experience of wanting a child to do something that only I want. Not quite that easy. Because you can't wrestle some children into a pushchair without them screaming blue murder, getting a child to nurse at a breast purely for your own ends is astounding to me.

And actual research/evidence suggests that children allowed to self wean are more secure, more independent and better equipped to deal with the world. The opposite of the trite 'keeping them a baby' line.

And isn't then saying 'who is the adult here' a contradiction. So it's all for the mother who is keeping the child a baby but it's also the child getting what it wants and the mother failing to say no?

I'm very .

Is it wrong to be a little bit in love with Tiktok?

Disclaimer - 38 weeks pregnant and hormonal - and just discovered my milk supply has come back after a 5 month absence when DS2 weaned at 22mo!

yes tiktok, of course dear

ROFL

www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/breastfeeding/contraceptionexpert/

www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Postpartum-Contraception.htm

google just in case anyone takes the advice on this thread that lactating prevents contraception to heart

population explosion and all that

Pfffffffffft. You were talking about 'the past'. For most women in the past, BF was an efrfective form of contraception for a lot longer than 6 months. I am not using it as contraception, no. Please stop being so unpleasant and stop talking out of your arse.

Thanks,

WoTmania

activate - it is not dangerous to talk about the contraceptive effect of bf.

FFS.

The contraceptive effect of breastfeeding exists. It is variable - a western woman who absolutely does not want more children or more children at this time would be ill-advised to rely on it.

It becomes less reliable if periods have returned, of course it does and with regular periods, bf's contraceptive effect is probably close to nil.

Is that safe enough for you?

Sheesh.

I will if you will

Kirsty - yes, it's a bit odd to be in love with me, as I am a hairy-arsed wrestler in real life, you know, only pretending to know what I am talking about.

I'm a disgrace, I really am.

So OP you don't think "it matters" what age the children are. So what age do you think (in your opinion) that children really shouldn't be breastfeeding anymore? Or do you think there is no upper limit?

I think 35 is pushing it. Especially if they're in court defending a case at the time.