Just read this - one year old is hardly extended bf, is it?

[bagaboo]

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-1599256,00.html

Don't know how to link but just saw that article, I know 1 year is longer than a lot of people bf for but i hardly thought of it as 'extended'. Not that whether its extended or not matters, but i felt quite offended by reading that - her tone seemed to be that anyone feeding that late is a bit strange and selfish - or am i overreacting? Sounds like she has a few issues to me...

Skim read it - how odd! How can it be extended breastfeeding to bf a child till 1 year when every single book on baby nutrition recommends bf or formula till a year. The logic of the writer must be that either formula is a fundamental food requirement rather than a synthetic replacement (albeit a very sophisticated replacement), or that it is OK to bf up to exactly 12 months and then suddenly on the child's 1st birthday there must be the ceremonial boob withdrawal ceremony.

Its amazing how easy it is for people to get an article published in a supposedly respectable publication when they blantantly wouldn't have a scooby about the subject.

I exclusively Breastfed my DD (now 4.5) until 4 months. From then she had it when she woke up, bedtime and nap times until 18 months old when I dropped the nap time feeds.

It slowly tailed off then to either morning or night until she was 2.

About a month before her 2nd birthday I told her that when she was 2 she would be a big girl, and big girls don't have "nummies" (her name for it). She was as good as gold about it.

just read the article.

wow.
that.
was.
shit.

I have seen this article before somewhere. She is talking out of her a* hole.

Yes, 1 year and over may be extended in places like the UK where anything over a few months is unusual and even weird in some circles, but the GLOBAL average age of weaning off the breast is FOUR YEARS old.

An anthropologist who studied what is called natural or self weaning in primates, worked out that if the same were applied to humans, the average age of weaning would be 2.5 - 7 years old.

Before the invention of formula bf up to 3 or 4 years was quite normal even in the industrialised world.

I wish these bloody jorno shite writers would get their facts right.

She writes "Psychologically, there is little evidence to support long-term breast-feeding. In the first couple of months it is important to the bonding relationship, but you can still have this with mothers who can?t breast-feed"

I totally disagree with this and it is not born out by the evidence and research done on the psychological state of children who were bf over a long period of time.

Bf creates a physical and psychological bond with the mother which can not be imitated by any other manner of feeding. Again she is talking crap.

Great letter Eulalia - please send it!

I read some research recently that concluded that babies bf past six months had better mental health than those not bf for that amount of time.

At the end of the day, I think we've just got to ignore silly articles like the Times' one and be secure in the choices that we make. We know why we're doing what we're doing (whether that's bf or ffing) - no one should be made to feel guilty either way. We shouldn't need to justify ourselves to anyone.

emailed the letter to the Times. too chicken to send it to author directly - would have had to change the way it was addressed anyway. will see if anything happens.

Er, yellowrose she is not a 'shite journo' as you so charmingly put it, she is a famous psychologist. I am a journalist btw! And yes, as I said below the feature is ridiculous and insulting.

1. What a stooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopid article.

2. What a great letter Eulalia, please tell us what response you get if any!

3. I may be jumping to wild simplistic conclusions but I would hazard a guess that the author has probably not breast-fed and possibly has never had a child. Whatever the case is, she clearly has no understanding of what it is like to breast-feed a baby/toddler. The logical extension to her stupid "breast-feeding will make them so dependent they will never be able to do their own washing" argument is to withhold all physical expressions of affection in case the child can't sever the link with the parent.

Dorothy was born Dorothy Conn in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, in 1930. She was educated at Newcastle Girls? High and Sydney University where she obtained a degree in psychology and a Diploma of Education. She taught for three years, married in 1956 and her son Edward was born in 1957. She returned to teaching when he was two but was offered the opportunity to train as a school counsellor (educational psychologist) and went on to become Specialist for Emotionally Disturbed Children. At the same time she completed her Diploma in Clinical Psychology. In 1965 her marriage came to an end, and in 1968 she and Edward went to England.

Oh well, I was jumping to wild conclusions! Never mind, doesn't alter the fact that has some very twisted ideas about mother/baby relationships.

Great post Eulalia.

Can´t believe at article like that got published. It says a lot about how some people think.

To me, bf till one year is the only way forward. Why BUY formula, basically an inferior product, when you have optimal milk on tap, with none of the palava re sterilizing and taking the necessary bottles etc. with you when you go out?

"Specialist for Emotionally Disturbed Children" - christ you would think she would know a thing or two about toddler emotions with a f* o** title like that, wouldn't yeh ?

aloha - sorry no personal insult to you as a journalist intended - i read so many things like this in the papers and often get the impression that that lovely prof. lacks any kind of understanding about bf - obviously you are the exception

now that i know she claims to know a lot about children's emotions through her profession, i am even more shocked at her stupidity.

FWIW i am lawyer - another hated profession - but i really don't mind the insults i read about lawyers all the time - some of it is dead true

What a pathetic and ill-informed article.
I stopped bf at 18 months. It was when dd wasn't interested anymore. I wouldn't have continued if she wasn't demanding it. I felt sad but happy too IYSWIM. She wasn't my little baby anymore... but I certainly wouldn't have felt happy to try to keep it going if she didn't want it. I hadn't really thought of it as extended bf, but I suppose everyone did think I was mad
Hope The Times printed an article pro feeding upto/beyond a year to provide balance but I bet they didn't...

It's OK Yellowrose - I think it's even worse that she is a psychologist and comes out with crap like that. I mean nobody expects better from journalists

aloha - damn right you are

that a small child will breastfeed to please it's mother
The same small child who would cheerfully lay on the floor and scream down the supermarket to please its mother.
I gave up b/f my ds at 16 mths, he was just feeding at night and taking the piss a bit happily drinking from a straw and cup during the day and refusing the breast
I wanted to keep feeding him, he didn't
There is no forcing the issue
for real

i charge HOURLY for the crap advice i give clients, just like a shrink, always makes me feel better !

piffle - i BEGGED my ds on my knees when he turned 1 "please, please, please, bf for my sake, please do it until you are at least 5 years old !!"

and yellow rose let me guess
His conscience got the better of him and he felt your need and gave in
Yep cos that's exactly how toddlers work right...

yes, well when you expect a toddler to be LOGICAL, you are in for a big surprise !

all the power I never knew I had.
Next time will be different...

lol