Quick question for extended breastfeeders...

[agnesnitt]

Okay, this might sound odd, but here I go anyway.

I know an extended breastfeeder whose son is completely and utterly uninterested and has to be practically forced to feed. Do you think mum should be thinking of letting him do as he wants instead of what she wants now?

Agnes

more please bf upset me today she thinks i should stop.

Fishie - tell her to bugger off.

fishie i have those days recently as dd is 2.4 and i've had a few unpleasant comments. Does your dc want to stop? Do you? Read the extended bf section on kellymom with all the lovely benefits, then print it off, roll it into a tube, put one end in bfs ear and shout into the other end 'BOG OFF BF, YOU KNOW NOTHING!'

the short answer is it is none of your business tbh. if this friend had a baby who she wanted to give up bf, and was "making" him have a bottle or cup instead, and the baby wanted to carry on bf, would you be saying "shouldn't she just let him bf if thats what he wants and not do what she wants to do?"
would she be selfish then I wonder?

Fishie you do not have to defend yourself you do not even have to discuss it. Just feed your boy as and when you (and he lol) want to.

If she goes on about it just say "I am not offering to feed you" and laugh. If she keeps on tell her it is none of her business. Giving facts and evidence to this kind of person just gives them something to argue over.

thank you. no ds def does not want to stop, not quite as forthright as rowan's but he rushes up to me with a cushion every time i sit on tho sofa.

No true friend would wish you to take away nourishment and pleasure from a child. Go on, tell her to feck off.

would you like to borrow my favourite expression:

it is handy for all occasions

LOL Boco...

I often get asked (after mentioning I still b/feed DS) - "does he ask for a b/feed then?", as though it is a pre-requisite for extended b/feeding.

If i mention that I offer it to him - I always get asked "but why offer it? Surely if he wants it he'll ask so why bother?"

You CANNOT force a child to b/feed, and I am pretty certain that if there was any malice or foul play intended, which I have to say the OP is alluding to.....then surely the mother wouldnt do it in public?

and as far as people saying 'giving in' or 'spoiling them', remember: need met = not longer a need.

i don't get these people who want to make a child 'independent' before they are potty trained, can tie their laces or make a sandwich.

fishie....sympathies....

I often also get asked "isnt it weird feeding such a big child?", and, I find it equally difficult to comprehend why people assume that the change from baby to toddler to small child is really that noticeable. You dont wake up one day and your baby is suddenly a walking talking whisky swilling 19 year old....

Forcing a child to breastfeed sounds to me less possible than raping one's dh (when he's asleep).

I understand the comparison EW, but, I dont like it - sorry.

Benefits of extended breastfeeding

"Nursing toddlers benefit NUTRITIONALLY
Nursing toddlers are SICK LESS OFTEN
Nursing toddlers have FEWER ALLERGIES
Nursing toddlers are SMART
Nursing toddlers are WELL ADJUSTED SOCIALLY
Nursing a toddler is NORMAL
MOTHERS also benefit from nursing past infancy"

Gosh what a terrible thing to offer your child. Let's wait for them to ask for it, instead

rather late - but rowan1971 you have just made me laugh out loud!

My dd (2 and a bit) cannot be persuaded to do ANYTHING she doesn't want to! Just can't imagine being able to force boob on a toddler.

hmmmm . I am now examining my not offering to toddlers. I did offer in the house mornings, naptime and bedtime.

I did not offer outside of this and would quite often try to distract her if she did ask when we were out. Perhaps I am not such a confident ex bf as I thought.

I do the same as you Mrs Apron, offer morning, night and nap, but the rest of the time, she either asks, or she's too busy, so i don't feel the need to offer.

i do that mrsa, only properly offer when serious bribery needed. but same for many things including singing baa baa blck sheep, which has mysterious powers second only to "mulk".

ha i bet agnes didn't expect her thread to turn out like this.

I just don't get why it's anyone's business but the mums (and the DCs obviously).

Also it really is impossible to force a child of any age to breastfeed when they don't want to - my SIX MONTH OLD won't feed unless she's hungry even though she loves to nurse. There's the whole physical thing of hard mouth (and teeth) versus soft nipples. If one doesn't open, the other doesn't go in.

at three we are down to the morning one only Boco. We worked quite hard at phasing out the bed one with a complicated regime of storys and not feeding to sleep. It was getting too hard feeding two at bedtime.

MrsA many people practise "Never offer, never refuse"

it is the LLL's recommended way to allow natural weaning to happen at the child's own pace

Respect MrsA.

Some of you will remember my ds self-weaned recently. There were many reasons why I wanted to carry on breastfeeding him - some for my benefit and some for his. I was NOT able to convince him to continue, however, and the idea of forcing him is just laughable.

F&Z I have visions of mums disguising their boobs as chicken nuggets to lure in the little rascals

When would people use the term 'extened breastfeeding'? ie from what age? Just curious, am BFing my almost 14 month old...do I qualify yet? (Although TBH am going to have to scale things back a bit soon in preparation for a weekend away in September!)