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'!

Same here paintyfingers

I look like the utra conventional type as well.

Yes you can, she improved her grasping using finger foods but I gave her tastes of other food.
If you can mix feed milk you can mix blw with spoon, do I need a new name?Blw on its own would be quite restrictive (I waited until 6m before weaning as per advice. Only person I know to do that.)
I suppose everyone is convinced with the first if they wean them quicker they will sleep better.

Not all APers use slings, not all APers use any of the tools - it's about an approach more than anything. I am on crutches and have to use a wrap because I couldn't push a pushchair, I've had 3-4 year olds in the wrap. A good sling will manage the weight rather than making you carry it.

Even parents who don't say no discipline their children. Just because they choose a different way of doing it doesn't mean that their children are running wild. I've seen more children running wild who's parents do say no and are more proactive(?) with their disciplining.

As I shout, smack, after saying No has been ignored, hate slings, weaned both DDs before BLW was invented or I'd ever heard of attachment parenting. I'd certainly think you can't make assumptions about mum's who extended BF.

Also DD2 was often to be found in macD's munching chicken nuggets and drinking coke, eating Gregg's sausage rolls and slurping fruit shots (breast milk is sweet, aged almost 13 she still point blank refuses to drink water. This is the one and only downside to how long she feed for.)

naty - mixing finger foods and spoon feeding is just normal/traditional weaning, it doesn't need another name. BLW specifically means the baby self-feeds without an adult putting anything in their mouth.

naty - that is Gill Rapley's definition of BLW, the idea is that if they can't physically manage it they're not ready.

I did totally no spoons, wasn't at all restrictive by 7 months my eldest was eating the same as her older cousins, just chopped into pieces ready for her. Number 2 was a lot older because she wasn't ready. Number 3 didn't eat until 7 months and just started eating everything. Number 4 needed them a lot earlier because of severe reflux so he had puree.

Ok I'll change that to I gave a lot more finger foods than usual (puree)
I wouldn't say not ready as she was holding and eating an Apple with the skin on by 7 months.
But not because of the theory of how just to improve grasp and chewing

naty

BLW is babyled Where the baby is the one and only person to put food in their mouth.

Spoonfeeding is parent led.

BLW on it's own is not restrictive if the baby is ready. You offer finger foods, give them sloppy foods/yoghurts etc preloaded onto spoons to feed themselves.

I did the same as you naty (only just seen your last post)

Nothing wrong with feeding that way, it's just not BLW. AK says the puree stage lasts for two weeks before you start finger food, most parents make that process even longer than that so it's more AK than AK to say you do BLW with spoons.

Apples are actually the exception, they're quite dangerous because of how they break and can choke or hurt themselves (again that doesn't mean all babies will). Usually the rule is that the external development reflects the internal development, so for example if they don't have a pincer grasp yet then something small enough to need a pincer grasp would be hazard for them to eat either because it could cause choking or because they're not ready to digest that. By spoon feeding a baby you are bypassing that safe guard process.

I fed till 1.5. I did start feeling that they were a little old, when they could talk! But I wanted to, and was doing it for me really.

I thought 2 was a good round figure cut off point

Till I had ds2 who would NOT stop
He was four before he stopped completely including a night comfort 'cuddle'
He's five now and when dd came along he decided to give it another go so didn't feel left out, didn't like it chuckle but I didn't feel the need to stop him.. Its a comfort thing past a certain age I think?

Personally I'd be a bit mixed feelings about EBF past six, I wouldn't do it myself I don't think, but I wouldn't pull a cats bum face about someone else doing it, what business is it of mine how they parent and feed/comfort?

Each to their own

minipie - " I would probably assume they were an attachment based, child led, co sleeping, dislike saying no type of parent. Would my assumption be correct?"

You have a very poor understanding of AP parenting if you think that it involves never saying no to a child.

Most AP type parents have high expectations of their children's behaviour- I know I do, of all my children's friends I am the one with the earliest home times/ tightest rein/ earliest bedtimes- although I have never used punishment.

Stop breastfeeding whenever the hell it suits you and your child.It is a natural, beautiful thing. Fuck people who have a problem with it. Its better than giving them Fruit Shoots, why is it more socially acceptable to see a child drinking Capri Fucking Sun than seeing them take milk from their mother?? As in free, nutritious milk, which is MADE for human consumption? A colleague told me to make sure i stop BF when 'his teeth come in...' I told her i was planning on doing it for a min of 2 years, circumstances permitting, you should have seen her face.

tracy- it's good to have that attitude- wae all need a bit of it when we choose to breastfeed for alonger duration. life can still be difficult though.
My aunt has told me I am "sexually abusing" my toddlers for breastfeeding them.

Although I know she is talking rubbish the comments still sting.

Atthestroke forgive me for saying this about your aunt, but for that to even cross her mind is very troubling to me.

I'm trying to think of a pithy reply for your aunt, but I can't get past bursting out laughing and ODFOD!

Personally bf a child over a year old is uncomfortable to me.
I'd be wanting them to just have cows milk before bedtime in a sippy cup by then as if bottle feeding they wouldn't be on bottles at that age

I must admit a two year old bf freaks me out a little!

Grr and yes gentle/positive/whatever new buzzword they call it discipline is NOT about having no discipline at all, it's just about not relying on punishments all the time.

It's pretty damn close to how most "normal" parents manage slightly older children with slight adjustments for age.

If I didn't ever say no to DD2 I'd be on the sofa permanently BF- sod that!

Also if parents never said no to their children their children would be dead from running into roads, drinking all of the interesting looking cleaning products, playing with pretty fire...