Anyone else made to feel like a paedophile for breastfeeding past 6 months!

[cruisemum1]

getting miffed at peoples attitudes to bf past the 'required' 6 months. ds is only 7 mths ffs! makes me feel they think i'm a freak! grrrrrrr

[NineUnlikelyTales]

I see what you mean yellowrose, but I almost daren't say it..

[NineUnlikelyTales]

I read it how Katy44 puts it.

[yellowrose]

did anyone of you see me use the word FORMULA ?

oh jesus !

[contentiouscat]

I found that mum & MIL, who had children in the 70s, both struggled with the concept of breastfeeding - I guess when they had their children formula was the new & best thing!!!

I fed until over a year...when they started biting I stopped feeing.

[Katy44]

ouch
What do other people do when they have a tooth come through and still breastfeeding? Does that tend to be when you stop? Or can you find ways round it?

[Katy44]

yellowrose, I don't understand your last comment, if they weren't breastfed (or not for very long) then surely they must have been fed on formula?

[moondog]

No Katy.Didn't cause any problems.

[Aquababe]

I guess i was lucky as my mum was v proud of my bf (she had only really managed 1 of 6 kids due to numerous problems) Mums (& mil) realy should know better.

[Aquababe]

katy44 I always assumed I'd stop when the teeth came through, but it wasn't till the top teeth came through that I had any problems. I just got good at taking her off as soon as she'd stopped feeding

[lemonaid]

Katy44 - actually DS was less chompy when he had teeth than before. He bit me a couple of times but I took him off, said "no biting, it hurts" and kept him off for about thirty seconds each time and he soon stopped.

[trice]

I haven't read all of the thread but I often hear the comment "Feeding past a year is really for the mothers benefit, it's not for the child". And apparantly it is because I want them to stay a baby and prevent them from growing up. Teeth are really not a problem, I never noticed any difference, but then I have nipples of steel.

It is best not to talk about it with people as they will only upset you. Extended breastfeeding in public seems to be strictly for the hardcore lentil weavers, although the most surprising people admit to doing it on the sly.

[yesireallycan]

I must admit I don't tell casual acquanitances in RL that I am still BF - DD is 3 in August - but then I have no reason to tell them really, DD only wants to BF at night and first thing in the morning, and always lying down on the bed, so she's unlikely to get one of my norks out in the playground! My best friends know but then most of them were extended BF'ers as well and are also crazy knit-your-own-yogurt doula chicks like me so not much fazes them.

Funnily enough my own mother doesn't even know and I am sure if she did would be shocked. Mind you I once told her I planned to nurse until DD was at least 6 months and she said "hmm you may as well live in a hut and squat in the corner" so I guess that told me all I needed to know! I was formula fed, naturally!

[terramum]

tbh Ive never had a really bad comments about bfing. DS is 2.9yrs now & we still feed out & about quite regularly...not sure what I am doing wrong tbh - I have all these fabulous come backs in my head & never get to use them

The only negative remarks Ive had are from my mum, & tbh even they werent too bad. She went through a phase last year of asking everytime we spoke on the phone whether DS was still bf. I tried all the WHO stuff on her, 2 yrs minimum, benefits are better the longer you feed, etc etc & none of it worked....she is VERY set in her ways & is 35+ out of date medically about everything (she was a nurse before she had me)...so now I just say "Of course!" in a voice that suggests she has just asked is he still breathes oxygen & that seems to shut her up

[cruisemum1]

this is so great for me to hear! I know i am not doing anything wrong by bf my ds past 6mths but it is so aggravating that the implication is that i should have stopped by now. i find myself apologising/making excuses for bf and i only do it morning and night. Actually, he sometimes roots around mid afternoon for a quick comfort suck and i,of course, oblige. tbh I never though i would be bf past 4mths but he loves it, i love it and i cannot bring myself to stop those two cosy, cuddly feeds. my mum is babysitting in june for two really big nights out and i guess she is concerned that he won't settle on the bottle.....any advice/tips here?

[cruisemum1]

oh and Trice - i was of that thinking before i had ds. . i fed my dd (now 9yo) until 4mths which was the norm then and cried buckets when i stopped. I only stopped because i thought i had to! wish i had known it wasn't freakish back then

[Twinklemegan]

OMG, it makes it sound like a 6 month sentence you have to serve!

[BonyM]

No - never had any problems. Still feeding dd2 at 2.1yrs. Mind you, I don't do it in public much. Most of my friends know that I'm still feeding though, although most of them were breastfeeders until their dcs were about 12mths.

[lucy5]

No ,I never was made to feel like that, although I was often surprised at the health professionals surprise.

[whomovedmychocolate]

My DD is six months and this week SEVEN people have asked 'are you stopping BFing now you are weaning' and I have patiently told them that no, you ADD food, not TAKE AWAY milk and they look puzzled, then say 'but surely follow on milk is what she needs now'

Power of marketing or what?!

My MiL and my mother keep saying 'you will be stopping at a year won't you?' (Neither breastfed). I just mutter well yes of course (but I don't say which year. When it gets to 11 months I'll just start telling them to sod off although my LO is starting to lose interest already - her daddy's spag bol apparently is nicer than mummy milk!

[whomovedmychocolate]

Bananabump - You really are planning ahead aren't you.

[DawsonScot]

After 15 weeks of breastfeeding I finally got a neg comment from 2 middle aged women in a cafe (said cafe is well known for its child friendly attitude so felt on safe ground). The ladies started to talk about me b/feeding in a very loud voice, saying that "everyone is doing it now", its "disgusting" and "its like being in a third world country". I called the waitress over and in a loud voice asked if b'feeding was allowed, which she of course said it was...

[moondog]

Dawson,I wouldn't bother even asking for permission.#It i your child's birthright.

Fucking idiots.

[cruisemum1]

WMMC - i got that at 6 months! "no need to bf now he's weaned is there? What he needs is some formula" . I have one friend who bf till 16mths and she stopped as she was pg with ds2. poor love was regarded as an oddity .

[DawsonScot]

I agree. It was really aimed at the women - and also I couldn't quite believe my ears!

[mangojuice]

When my ds got to 6months my grandmother actually said to me "well you can stop now can't you?" I was astonished! Like you say Twinklemegan it was as if I'd completed a six month sentance.

"I could" I told her "but I'm not going to" She hasn't mentioned it since, but I don't think she could understand that I actually enjoyed it. Of course, she was also on at me to give him formula with crumbled up rusks in at 12 weeks (???!!!!) as she had during the 1950's..... The mind boggles