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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

^^Extraordinary breastfeeding - tonight on C4 ^^

843 replies

harpsichordcarrier · 01/02/2006 17:27

new thread for RTKM

OP posts:
JoolsToo · 01/02/2006 20:04

can you not comfort, embrace and love your children without the need for breastfeeding - Having the special relationship that I have with my own children, now 33, 31 and 29 (all bottle fed) I don't see how it can get any better?

nanneh · 01/02/2006 20:04

Aloha - there are not millions of Africans and Lations breastfeeding their 8 year olds - that's true. But there is no social stigma attached to those that do because BF in general is more "normal" than it is here in the UK.

These are societies where being physical and tactile are also much more normal than here in the UK. Most Latinos and Africans I have known (I used to go to international schools when I lived abroad) were extremely tactile and I can see that in a culture like that parenting in general is very physical.

wantedmyboobsback · 01/02/2006 20:04

but i have friends who didnt breast feed that didnt end up with what can only be described as saggy tea bags! i dont regret breast feeding but i couldnt do it on a long term basis i didnt express as i couldnt get the hang of it so for 6 months it was down to me to do every feed couldnt have an afternoon off to do something myself or even have a decent nights sleep

cod · 01/02/2006 20:04

Message withdrawn

JoolsToo · 01/02/2006 20:05

hunkermunker - change to boobs - I beg to differ

laughinglil · 01/02/2006 20:05

i breastfed twins for a month but it was very difficult with two. i am looking forward to the show to see if the 8 yr old girl is being breastfed for her comfort or her mothers fear of letting go of 'her baby' in some societies this is perfectly normal but is this because they are in deprived areas where food is difficult?
the thing is i can remember back to when i was 8/9 i was breastfed and i think it is a fantastic thing but i wouldn't like it if i could remember it..and plus that girl may get taken the mick out of at school and everything (thats what worries me) and how embarrassing for when she is a teen!

wantedmyboobsback · 01/02/2006 20:06

thank you piffle

cod · 01/02/2006 20:06

Message withdrawn

JoolsToo · 01/02/2006 20:06

cod you're incorrigible!

Aloha · 01/02/2006 20:06

So what are the special sensations that an eight year old would get from breastfeeding that she/he wouldn't from - say - being spoon fed?

Piffle · 01/02/2006 20:07

Its not about a need for bf, its about wanting to.
These mothers are not grabbing their kids heads and forcing them on in an oral rape scenario, while both still enjoy it and get something from it, its a perfectly natural thing to do.It's more natural comfort than giving a spoonful of calpol thats for sure

cod · 01/02/2006 20:07

Message withdrawn

Furball · 01/02/2006 20:08

But from my point of view, I am glad I cannot remember breastfeeding with my mother and at 8 you most certainly would.

JendleWendleBells · 01/02/2006 20:09

Piffle - when was the last time to wore a nappy or were spoon fed puree or sucked your mums boobs for that matter? Why is weaning any different from other growing up rites of passage?

Piffle · 01/02/2006 20:09

babies are born sucking, thats their only inborn method of survival its a primal urge. Thats the difference

JoolsToo · 01/02/2006 20:09

I've had some wine so bear with me later

oh and cod - you forgot NORKS!

cod · 01/02/2006 20:10

Message withdrawn

Piffle · 01/02/2006 20:11

I'm probably hideously biased as I was a late feeder as was my younger brother.
Any questions?

laughinglil · 01/02/2006 20:11

it is a comfort thing but the thing is when does it stop being a comfort? lots of children have dummys up to quite old but a lot of people wean them off of them..but children like the sensation of sucking. I don't really know then ins and outs of this story until i see the programme but at 8 children begin to investigate everything and tell each other things wouldn't another 8 year old tease another if found out they were being breastfed?

JoolsToo · 01/02/2006 20:12

hey cod - you'll appreciate this but the rest of you won't so don't look

hunkermunker · 01/02/2006 20:13

Cod, I felt like that too - stopped bfeeding DS1 when I was 5 months pregnant - seemed really weird I was going to do it again.

Now it seems totally normal. But the idea of getting my breasts our in public when I wasn't doing it seemed odd (and I'm Queen of the Norks). I even bfed DS2 when we were registering his birth the other day.

laughinglil · 01/02/2006 20:14

yes piffle but an 8 year old doesn't need to be sucking ie breastfeeding to survive ,a newborn baby does.

hunkermunker · 01/02/2006 20:14

JT, that's hilarious! PMSL!

Piffle · 01/02/2006 20:15

So you'd argue by the same token that you should not allow kids to thumb suck for comfort either?

laughinglil · 01/02/2006 20:15

can't work out what it is!