Age when bf is no longer culturally acceptable?

[Tonicandgin]

Just that really... I'm bf my 8mth old and have no plans to stop anytime soon, but do often hear people talking about toddlers who were a certain age STILL feeding.

When does it become culturally unacceptable? 1/2/3/4?

What do people think?

I do often feel like the only one still feeding my baby.. Thank god for mn!

My baby is almost three (and he's huuuuge!). I still feed him in public. I have never had a single comment or look implying what we are doing is socially unacceptable. Not that I'd give a toss. You just keep nourishing -physically and emotionally - your little person and know that you're doing the right thing :)

Depends which culture and where. In the UK I think cultural attitudes vary widely.

Where I live I don't think people would have a huge issue with bfeeding at 2 to 3 years, and under 2 would definitely not be commented on.

In other places, nearly everyone formula feeds anyway, so people might find 6 months or older to be surprising. Or maybe even younger.

I think a lot of natural term breastfeeding is unnoticed as it can happen just at home eg mornings, evenings and over night.

I find that hv/gps always talk to me as though I'm a ff and then when I explain they are surprised. If I see other babies being bfed, they are younger than mine.

But you're right it's not as common to see them being fed at an older age. For starters they become so bloody nosy!

I may bf until dd self weans but don't want people to think I'm doing something really inappropriate (for her sake more than mine). Z

Tonic, I know what you mean about HVs. At my DS's 12 month check the HV asked how many bottles does he have a day now, and she was really confused when I said "none". You could see her mind ticking over, and then she said "oh, are you still breastfeeding?". Given that they are supposed to be supporting and encouraging breastfeeding, they shouldn't be so surprised when women do it!

Yes I've the same with GPs and HVs when I tell them I bf my 16 months old dd?!
Surely they shouldn't be so surprised

I felt self conscious after a year because I didn't know anybody else who breastfed that long, until I found a local La Leche League group.

But, I fed DS until he was 4. It wasn't until he was over 2 that I had any comments from anyone really. After 18 months he didn't really ask to feed in public so most people didn't realise, it was just family really and close friends who were around at some point or other one evening. Even family and close friends assumed I'd stopped at some point and I didn't bother to correct them. He was totally oblivious to other people's opinions about it although he knew he could only ask at home. He never really talked about it because for him it was as normal as eating breakfast or having a cuddle. So he didn't get teased or anything even though he was still breastfeeding when he started at nursery - by that point it was really only just before bed and not every night.

I'd say up to a year seems fairly normal, toddler age 1-2 you see less often in public though when I have seen people feeding toddlers at playgroups or whatever it doesn't seem to have raised comment. Over 2 is where you get into the "socially/culturally weird" territory I think.