Breastfeeding - so at what age do YOU consider it still acceptable?

[PontOffelPock]

Straw poll on what age child MNers consider tips the balance from acceptable to unacceptable for extended breastfeeding?

Honest opinions please, are you (secretly or otherwise) horrified by a 5 year old BFing, or does your horror kick in at 6 months?!

Asking because I am considering how long to continue BFing with DS (1 yo) and admit to be more than a little swayed by 'what people think'!

What do you mean by "a bit bitty"?

Quite the opposite new baby teeth and even baby gums are far more bitty than older DC.

Seriously, an older child can only BF if they want to. It's quite an art getting in the right position when you are bigger and have a full set of teeth. I think lots of DCs give up between 2 and 4 because they can't be arsed.

DD2 just liked the taste of BM (she loves ice cream, which I suspect tastes a bit the same) and liked getting her mum to herself for a bit. She was prepared to put in a bit of effort into working out how to feed when bigger.

I don't think she ever bit me after she was a baby, and not often then because she was plonked on the floor.

I would rather calm a child down another way though.
It's one thing if they are hungry and tantrum because they need a snack but to bf them then is not trying other methods of calming or letting them calm themselves down.
It's like handing them food when they have fallen over. Or really using it as a dummy. I could see people 'disapproving' of that rather than the bf itself.
I have seen people say they use bf for this for their sn children and that is an exception

I always thought that anything beyond 18mths-2yrs was a bit odd. DS2 had other ideas. He kept going until he was 3 and a half!

Whenever the child chooses to stop is totally acceptable to me.
Generally speaking this is often somewhere between 3 and 7 years old.

My daughter is 2 in March and shows no sign of weaning off the breast as yet.

Violet - your ds being miles ahead of his peers at age 3 is not because of breast milk

I don't really give a flying fig how long other people bf for since it's none of my business. In my case I fed my 3 until around the year mark. They all seemed to naturally wean themselves about that time and really they were just feeding last night before bed by then for comfort. With my 3rd child I actually had an inkling of how some of my friends had felt as I was getting resentful and not enjoying the experience as much as previously.

I am a bit at how het up some people get about extended bfjng though. It's not them feeding or being fed so I don't get what their problem is. However I feel like this about a lot of subjects - don't have the energy!

I don't think I would ever think it was unacceptable or be horrified, but I would not choose to breastfeed a school aged child. Every one else can do what they want though.

I would want my breasts back to myself by then.

They could be slightly ahead due to bf. miles maybe not but I think the studies showed it does improve iq (but I think that was until 1 or so not extended until 3. )
Maybe the extended bf could participate in a study to find out?
Imaging if we could create a genius just by bf!

It's about five IQ points at best. Not enough to make a life-changing difference, but consoling at night or during mastitis

Personal choice surely. It does not affect me if my neighbour is bleeding a 5 year old. It's up to the mother and child.

I must just add I know a lady who breasted all her children til they were 4 years old. They are all in their 30's now and very nice well adjusted adults.
Their mum as a very nice lady who helps a lot in the local community and is a theatre nurse. She not odd in any way and doesn't knit yoghurt (although nothing wrong with hand knitted yoghurt)
They are a very natural family though and the children didn't wear shoes until they went to school. This has nothing to do with the breast feeding though just painting a picture.

Kids were never ill even when started school . It shouldn't be a problem even if you don't want to do it yourself

Breasts only get loaned for a few minutes a day (and milk is produced pretty much on demand) DD could skip several days and it didn't matter.

DD is 2 years and two months and BFing, mostly just once in the morning and once before bed. That's on working days. On days off with me, she might ask a bit more and if it's at home or out, I just do it.

I don't give a rat's arse if some people don't like it. Some people have been surprised but no-one has ever been horrible about DD still BFing.

See, naty, I don't see a problem with saying that YOU would rather calm your child down in another way but is it then not a bit judgy to say "Well you haven't even tried something else!"

For me when my child is upset/hurt/frightened my priority is to calm them down and make them feel safe as quickly as possible, which probably means using a tried and tested method, not go through as many methods as I can in order to see which work and which don't.

It's not like handing them food, it's more like giving them a cuddle or wrapping them in a comfort blanket.

I love all the autocorrects on this thread

"Bleeding a 5 year old" "Breasted all her children"

The mental pictures!

Bertiebotts , I think it's fine to calm with bf to be honest you don't see many adults who can't calm down without bf do you.

Don't you think it's personal choice. If it works for you it works. Ignore the judgers .

Why have you even started such a judgemental thread!!
Shame on you .

I wouldn't say judging Bertie completely up to you what you want to do when that happens.
I suppose I see it as possibly creating more work for yourself like feeding to sleep which I did for months she wasn't learning the skill of going to sleep and staying asleep.
Wouldn't judge anyone for that. I just found for my child it was a short term fix. Every child is so different.
My 20 m doesn't cry when she falls over but I'm sure I have that to come with the terrible 2s (I may miss not being able to calm her with bf then:)

I'm doing it at 39!

How can breastfeeding be seen as yucky?

Now candyfloss on the other hand, should NEVER be eaten in public.

My bf two year old doesn't cry when she falls over either. I think that's a personality thing rather than a comfort thing - some of them are just hardy little souls.