Is there an 'extended' breastfeeding support thread?

[Unrulysun]

Or would I be better off on LLL?

Just read the 'school-age children' thread with interest but didn't want to derail :)

dd is 1 today so it's not 'extended' bf by any normal definition but judging by the number of 'Are you going to carry on breastfeeding her?' (yes because otherwise she'll be composed primarily of grapes) conversations I've had inflicted on me in the last week I think I'm going to need all the support I can get

so proud we made it this far - ha ha!

Ds knows that when I sit at the computer to mn he can come and bf to his heart's content. He even grabs my hand and leads me towards the computer if he fancies a feed. He also smacks his lips together, which I prefer to the rather blatent pawing of my chest that I got a few months ago, and which he seems to have grown out of.

I have realised recently what I consider 'extended bfing' - 7 years plus.

Then that's because I figure most children would be losing milk teeth/adult molars would be going through so I figure the child themselves would be working on maintaining the ability to latch rather than weaning.

Though of course there are children who don't get adult teeth until quite late and they probably would be able to still latch in the meantime.

I told my cousin about the adult teeth thing and she looked at me in horror. She didn't lose her first milk tooth til the age of 9.

Every time ds1 says his teeth are wobbly, I remind him that he might not be able to latch when they start falling out. He says it's fine and he won't mind....

LOL @ don't sit down. The top of ds1's head is level with my nipples Fortunately he knows better than to even try....

Well at the moment I don't get hassled when I sit down. I DO get hassled when he sees me, but that's a bit different. He's only 10.5 though at the moment. He's not really much of a boob monster during the day, but he tends to be (annoyingly so) from about 5am onwards, and also (less of a problem) in the evenings. It would be nice if he'd sleep better in the mornings but then I figure that many babies just wake early and that's that. At least I have a way of dozing and getting him back to sleep.

According to my MIL I'm an embarassment, impolite, rude, turning him into a cissy, and co-sleeping is dirty. But as she "left mine to cry and when they realised no one was coming they eventually stopped" I don't care what her opinion is, coz it's WRONG.

Yes, I know if DD takes my hand, leads me to the sofa and urges me to 'sit down mummy', she's not doing it out of concern for my welfare

Niiiice MiL you have there. I'm lucky that DH doesn't get on with mine and she lives 4 hour drive away anyway

although that said I would rather a nice, supportive MIL who gave DH a stable upbrining and could be a good part of my DC's lives. But I don't so at least she lives a long way away

This is so refreshing to see I am not the only one feeding an older child! DD is 3.11 and starts school later this year, she is showing no signs of wanting to stop breastfeeding and is still attached to me most of the night.

wot she's actually very nice to be fair to her. It's just that she disagrees with a few things (parenting styles, Nestle (a lovely company who employ lots of people), etc) but generally we actually get on ok. But we've had one big blow-up about it which I still smart about, although for the sake of my (amazingly wonderful) DH I try not to, as it's just not fair to him. He worries about being piggy in the middle, so I do my best to not put him in that position.

fair enough. Totally different from the wicked witch of the north my MIL then?

Candice - it's amazing how many people are nursing older children it's all very unseen

candice actually I think loads of people do but (as was pointed out earlier on, I think, this thread) until you say it, people don't talk about it. And why would they. You don't meet a new person and say, "Hi! I'm Rots and I breastfeed my toddler". Coz that would be weird. But I have a t-shirt which says, "I make milk - what's your superpower?" which people have commented on and told me how long they fed their babies to (often 2, 3, 4 years). Mostly it's more hidden away so you don't see it. I wish it wasn't. I really hope I'll continue to feed in public for several years to come.

wot probably :) I would say misguided rather than wicked :) I've tried to educate her but she's not having any of it .

"Yes, I know if DD takes my hand, leads me to the sofa and urges me to 'sit down mummy', she's not doing it out of concern for my welfare "
LOL, my DS does the same the little scamp. :)

Somebody mentioned earlier on (sorry finding it hard to keep up with the speed of thread!) that they regretted cutting down to just a morning and night feed because their milk ran dry. This is what I'm planning on doing because in a few months I'll be leaving her full time. Plus when I was feeding her more my body couldn't handle it, I was losing a lot of weight very quickly, she was losing weight and not eating anything. Now I've cut down to 3 feeds she eats proper meals and is putting on weight again :). I do want to continue. Will my supply maintain? The goal I've set for myself is until 18 months (although before it was 6mnths, 8mnths, a year...so who knows?).

So much admiration for those of you feeding in the night and day. I just couldn't manage it so had to cut down. Although it has been a great decision for both of us, it still makes me sad when I think of those first nights refusing feeds.

ridin, that was me. At the time I took it to be DS self-weaning as he just stopped being interested. Looking at it in hindsight, it is more likely that I wasn't producing enough to interest him. However, many people only feed morning and night (or less) and still lactate. What you also don't know is that I was under enormous pressure to stop from my ExH (who I left shortly after anyway) and was in an abusive relationship with him so I was also under great stress which could have contributed. Feedings were in secret as he didn't approve of it. It wasn't a great way of continuing to BF.

Hello, I am still cosleeping and feeding DS who just turned 3. DP did comment last night how big he now looks when he's feeding (he's a very tall and skinny 3), and I asked DS how he would feel about stopping mummymilk. He said "sad".
I am too soppy to make him sad, so we'll probably be going for ages yet. He's also an incessant twiddler, which drives me nuts.

organic we have the same problem here. (But I think it may be because we live relatively close to one another - in Yorkshire terms ). Néstle employ so many people around here. Can be a little difficult

People seem to think I'm judging them by my boycott if their DH/DD/DS/MIL etc work there.

It's hard to explain that it isn't about the individual employee.

didoreth "sad" :( Bless.

Mummy I spend quite a lot of time in Afreeka and see what happens in person. TBH, I don't care how many people they employ :( :( :( It's certainly possible to be a big employer, and also be ethical. Look at Bournville. But hey, that's a whole different discussion .

Xpost mummy

Sorry, my response will have not come across right but I x-posted so it wasn't intended as a response.

Yes, I totally understand what you mean. Like, I'm not criticising my MIL for choosing Nestle. I just choose not to and if she insists on discussing it I don't accept that "being a big employer" is a good reason to do what they do.

YY. Exactly. (I am Sarf Efrican - and worked in the state healthcare system. It's horrendous )