breastfeeding toddlers above the age of 2 is "a bit odd"

[bamboostalks]

So says Su Laurent (supposedly emminent paedatrician) in her new book about your baby's first 2 years. She says that she herself bf for 6 months then stopped as it was appropriate for her returning to work. No mention that loads of bf mums return to work and contiue to bf successfully. She also then goes on to say that bf toddlers may resulting in "the sight of baby lifting up mum's top themselves in order to feed" !!! Shock, Horror. Am I the only one to find this a load of offensive tripe in a book published in 2007 and from someone whom I have seen on the television loads of time doling out advice. It really annoys me. I am going to write to DK, the publishers and complain.

I might write that book, TYV

But my child-rearing prejudices aren't mainstream ones

now THAT I would pay to read . With a foreword by Tiktok and cover quotes by Cod and Lord Venger.

Agree with Beewisemen - what we need is for all us extended breastfeeders to proudly breastfeed our older babies/toddlers out and about as much as possible, this will help to normalise breastfeeding beyond 6 months.

Though have to admit I did and do feel shy about this and mostly fed DS1 at home after about 9-10 months.

not a chance i'm going to feed ds in public (he is 2.8). nor am i going to advertise my continued bfing. i really wish i could, am vocal enough about everything else in life.

i hate that i don't feel comfortable about it but so many prejudicial posts on mn have put me right off having to do confrontation in rl.

here is a good example. why would i risk this in person when i can meet a good old bigot online without even 'exposing' a breast?

ds1 self-weaned happily at 11 months - always wanted to be doing something, and as a very slow feeder got bored out of his brain bfing. Plus was hardly taking any milk anyway. I would happily have carried on had he wanted to. Am mystified by people who think bfing ends at 6 months when solids begin.
I have to wean ds2 pre-going back to work as I have on-calls and would be unpredictably absent.
I am already feeling bad about it (he will be 9 months) as he is a very happy little feeder. Would love to carry on indefinitely as he is so content with it - not like ds1 at all.

MBWUS, when you say unpredictably absent, do you mean for long periods of time? Perfectly possible to feed quite erratically at this age, imo and ime.

mybabywakesupsinging (what a nice name) you don't need to give up if you don't want to. see what happens, he's old enough to cope with a bit of irregular feeding and your supply should be well established.

This isn't on the subject of bf an older child but had to put it in here (as can't be bothered to look for thread with 'worst advice from a hp'. My friend was told by her (and my doctor) that her breasts were 'far too big' and that she'd have to be very careful not to smother her daughter while she was feeding. My friend said she did every feed sitting bolt upright in a chair because she was too frightened to relax, even during night feeds.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing - particularly as my friend is not in any way huge breasted - she's just a normal, well built woman.

Top that for unsupportive medical advice on bf!

eaxtly hunker. there are some really odd perceptions of extended breastfeeding in the medical profession, and it does seem largely built around personal neurosis of some sort. i remember telling the GP I had mastistis when ds was 4 months old and her advice was to give up, i had gone on long enough. Ds just stopped shortly after his third birthday, but we had been rather private about it since he turned two.

my ds is one today too
he cant lift my tope yet though!

Fishie, I really do know what you mean, though I do think that the more of us who feel able to b-feed in public and ignore any comments/funny looks, the easier it will become, not just for us but for other b-feeding mothers too.
Keep reminding myself of that when I feed DS2 out and about (who is a very large 7 month old who looks at least a year old)...

Hunker/Sabire - will include weekends away and times when I would miss a night then a morning feed. And I will leave for work at sixish so well before my little snoozer wakes up for his first-of-many-breakfasts.
Have seriously thought about carrying on otherwise and interestingly DH suggested it.

Mybaby, I have limited expereince in feeding at odd times but I think that once your supply is very established (which it will be at 9 months) then you can miss feeds fairly regularly but still continue to b-feed when you are with your DS.
Or you could express when you get up and then leave this milk for your DS's morning feed?
I had a few weekends away from DS1 while I was still breastfeeding him (mainly morning and night feeds, he was 18 months plus) and it was fine.
I have read about Hunker b-feeding her babies despite going back to work, sure she will be back to fill you in. Nice to hear your DH is so supportive.

have always felt it would be a bit unfair on ds not to know when he woke up/went to bed whether he was going to get a boob or a bottle....
not that he wants the latter. have tried it (when I had a job interview) and the only one who drank the bottle of EBM was ds1!(who pulled a "this is yuck" face but downed the rejected bottle anyway). Thinks ds2 knows what he wants pretty well.

They're adjustable little things though - you can always try it and wean if it's not working. Chances are he'll just accept that if Mummy's around, he gets a boob and if she's not, he doesn't.

turning into a thread hijack sorry

I could go a couple of days in between feeds at the end with DS (he was 29 months when he stopped approx).

You dont get engorged, and the milk doesnt disappear overnight. I found with DS that if I wasnt there, he wouldnt cry for it, but if I was, it was a given. At the time - I worked evenings 4 days a week and he at first had expressed ebm in the evening and I fed him the evenings when I was there. Then, then when expressing became more arduous, he just moved on to cows milk for when I wasnt there, and I b/fed evenings I was.

Boobs are remarkably flexible. So are toddlers

My sister went away for a week for work while bfing her toddler. She expressed when her breasts got uncomfortable, but that's it. Her ds happily resumed bfing when she got back.

As she said, the worst that could happen was that she would have to wean then, and it's hardly worth weaning preventively to try to avoid that, is it?

Good grief.. my 8 m/o has learned to pull on my top to ask for milk! Is that "a bit odd"?

Sadly I don't think it's an unusual attitude at all (see other recent "extended" bf threads for evidence of this) but when an "expert" joins the fray I do worry people will be more likely to listen.