So perhaps we should be breastfeeding for 7 years?

[ThomasTankEngine]

See here

I've always breastfed until my next baby came along. I've been bf-ing without a break for four kids and 9 years now.

Ooh ooh, ah ah.
< scrapes knuckles along floor. >

Hi, thomas, in my culture its very normal to tandem feed and many , many mothers i personally know tandem feed and feed until / after the next baby comes along.

Sweety, I would feel it was odd to continue to breastfeed my child after he or I no longer wished to continue.

Hi rainbow83. Do you mind me asking where you're from? And why do you think its rare in the uk?
And does anyone feed 3 children at once in your culture?

I've not met anyone who has tandem fed. Maybe i'm moving in the wrong circles.

Not all extended breastfeeders and tandem feeders do it in public, and many don't talk about it (in part because of the "weirdy" "odd" attitudes). Many older children only feed morning and night, or only at home. You probably do know some tandem feeders

Tandem feeding is not exhausting as the older child doesn't feed much. I found it helped enormously with jealousy issues when the next baby came along as the older one still feels included. Definately wouldn't do it in public and its not necessary by then. Rarely feed my 2 year old in public now but still lots at home.

I tandem fed as got pg when ds was 11m so cont to feed him throughout pg and when dd was born we continued for a month or so - but the gaps btwn feds became increasingly wide and one evening ds seemed to have forgotten how to latch on. He was 22m - I felt a mix of sadness and relief.

Still feeding dd at 16 m and she is showing no signs of wanting to stop.

actually I didn't find tandem feeding in the least tiring. it was lovely actually. bf a toddler is v different from bf a newborn, and like Eulalia I found it helped with the sibling transitioning/bonding i.e. no jealousy at all.
dealing with the bitty/urgh/yuk bullshit: now that's tiring

my dd is now 25 months and is loosing the 'knack' of bf. we are only feeding during the night (which she loves). i am assuming that soon, she physically won't be able to do it and then we'll stop.

love the thread - everyone on here is very open minded!

IIjjk, thanks - great article.
I knew that bf was benficial in reducing risk of certain cancers, but was confused by the idea that the mother was somehow producing "anti-bodies" to it. Facinating to see they have isolated the particular protein!
I wonder if these proteins/sugars etc are present in useful quantities at all stages of bf?

perhaps they are more potent - appar ently the fat, calcium and protein content increases past yr 1, as do the immune boosting elements. v fascinating article !

heres another question - if humans are designed to drink human milk and most babies self wean around 2-4 yrs old, i wonder what woulod happen if they then didn't dri0nk cows
milk ? wether that would reduce the risk of obtaining certain cancers in the first place ?

god talk about thinking outside the box, ad i thought i was baby brained !!!

Puffy - there are lots of cultures that don't drink cows milk, so I wonder if studies have been done? I think it's not commonly drunk in Japan?

Hi, sorry to butt in just been reading this thread as pretty interesting but had a question re tandem feeding:

How can bm be appropriate to both children? Presumably the newborn must win over so the other child is back to getting newborn milk?

Sorry - as you were!!

this might be an added incentive for the older child to wean?

SD - no, they tend to drink / eat loads of soya don't they - and there is MUCH less incidence of cancer / heart disease / diabetes.

but then they also have a diet v high in veg i think

razian - i think i read some info on tandem feeding on an archived thread but can't remember how it works ! will see if can find info for you

Razia, correct. The breastmilk becomes colostrum for the newborn.