Daily Mail article on extended breastfeeding

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Here. But you know what it says, and you already know what the comments say too....

See this, this is me yawning this is

They all reach the same stage eventually, whether its at 18months or 3.5 years, once they are at school it would be hard to tell when each child was potty trained. Sorry ive hyjacked the tread

Lots of aspects of childrearing seem to have been broken down into multiple micro-stages these days. What is more interesting/productive to note: the starting age of each aspect, or the completion age of each aspect?

Aww thats sweet Babies, I like to have an open mind though i have my views aswell and would not like to make a personal attack on anybody just express how i feel in a general way. Wish that i could have bf for longer, but it did not happen.

As for pt i would rather take it from my child and when she is ready, I have tried the whole pT when she is not ready, ended up with a frustrated and upset mummy and a and stressed dd, so i had to put her back in pull ups for our sanity.

Bonsoir,

Yes I agree if you start earlier it takes a lot more time, but then you clean up a lot less poo from bottoms. Swings and roundabouts.

ECing and toilet training, puree weaning and babyled weaning. It is just personal choice of when and how you do these things. Some children/adults prefer one way over another.

I agree that "being out of nappies" or "being fully weaned" or "sleeping through the night in their own bed" are not achievements in their own rights, just a means to an end.

Eventually all NT babies will be out of nappies, fully weaned and sleeping in their own bed. Why stress about how we get there ?

I think rainbow was making a point about judging other people's parenting in such a way

pigletmania, Your posts come across very open minded and tolerant of other people's opinions, especially on the breastfeeding threads.

It is clear from you post that your child is not ready yet. I believe there are many windows when our children are ready to learn new things and there is no return in upsetting your child or your self if it is not the right time to introduce changes.

Oh , sorry if I missed the irony in Rainbows post.

Totally agree babieseverywhere, most 2 year olds I know that are "toilet trained" get asked every 10 minutes if they need the toilet, get put on the potty regardless and have frequent accidents.

I started DD1 at 2 at her insistence, what a nightmare, DD2 started at 2.8yo and did it in 4 days, her body was more ready and her communication skills better.

As for BFing, why do people get so het up about how other people chose to feed their babies and for how long? I, for one, have better things to do. If a mother wants to feed her 6 year old then good for her.

It makes me chortle that feeding your child from your breasts is seen as yucky and unnatural yet giving them the milk from the BREASTS of a big smelly animal in a field is fine. Now that is perverse!

The human race would not be here now if it weren't for BFing.

I think that I got it thats why i humoured rainbow and invited her to come and help me , but there is a bit of truth in Rainbows post. Thanks Babies, I felt so sad when in knickers and dd had wet herself about a month ago i pointd to the puddle and asked her what it was (expecting wee wee or wet) but she said sadly 'naughty' felt so bad like a rubbish mum. Then on i just put her back in pull ups and took other mums advice just to take the cues from her.

I don't know, the thought of cleaning out a potty always filled me with horror! Potties are so much more disgusting than nappies, IMO. So I never went there.

Anyway, my life is totally incompatible with wee and poo accidents. I was either going t be housebound for months or else wait until DD was 100% ready to be toilet-trained.

Sweetkitty i have visons of people suckling cows now thank goodness for supermarkets

no its not the milk at all, its the image of of an older child at the breast thats all, everyones entitled to their views and thats mine.

I think rainbow was trying to make a point about taking cues from the child, whether it is toilet training, breastfeeding, co-sleeping or other "baby" habbits they have.

And yes, they do need it, and that's why they keep doing it. If you leave a child to self wean, like nature intended, they will do so when they feel that their needs, whether nutritional or emotional, have been satisfied and they're ready for the new stage in their life.

Also, children are more likely to become independant when they feel secure in their relationship with their parents, i.e. the closer they are to the parent the more securely independant they will become, because they feel safe. You simply can't force a child to grow up, you'll get the opposite results.

pigletmania, I understand how you feel. When it comes to nursing your children you don't see a child of a certain age. You see the child you nursed yesterday and they need the comfort of nursing today, why refuse ?

If someone handed me a strange 3 year old and said feed this child...I would really struggle to overcome my feelings of 'this isn't right'. But if the 3 year old is yours and grown up at your breast for three long years, it is just another element of mothering.

"If they're still doing it it means that their jaw is still capable of suckling, therefore they need it."

Well my jaw is still capable of sucking and I'm 34, so not sure that's relevant.

I have no issues with what anyone wants to do (it's a free country) BUT I admit I am struggling to find any proper evidence that points to the benefits of extended breastfeeding in countries where a nutritionally adequate diet is readily available.

I can fully see that in countries where solid food is unvaried, can be in short supply, and is likely to be short of protein, the benefits would be clear. However, I have doubts whether the benefits where these dietary restrictions are not in place would be statistically significant

Certainly I'd be happy to be proved wrong. I just cant find anything that supports it.

"You simply can't force a child to grow up, you'll get the opposite results."

I agree with this. I also think that you have to offer a child a lot of exciting opportunities to grow up, and to hope that he/she takes them up in his/her own good time. Children won't grow up if they are never offered the possibibilities that will allow them to do so.

ArcticFox - to suckle and to suck are not the same thing. You are not capable of suckling at your age!

Bonsoir - my error. Misread the post and stand corrected.

However, I still think my other points stand. (although as I said I'm happy to be corrected on those too)

I just think we have to be careful of saying that because something has clear benefits to cave people and/or people living in small village in Bangledesh, those benefits are the same in the 21st century UK.

arcticfox, you're ble to suck, not suckle effectively enough to stimulate milk production.
It's about whether or not Extended BFing has benefits, stopping it is interfering, an unneccessary intervention imo. And I am very greatful that I live in a western country, as I have a child who wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for formula and the luxury of daily nutritious meals that we have, something most of the world doesn't. Now, that was a neccessary intervention. I simply can't imagine telling DS in a month's time "no, you can't BF anymore, you've turned two, remember?"

Great post babieseverywhere :-)

X posted

"I just think we have to be careful of saying that because something has clear benefits to cave people and/or people living in small village in Bangledesh, those benefits are the same in the 21st century UK. "

So, is extened BFing a really backwards thing then?

*ArcticFox",
Breastmilk always has the same
nutritional value as it did at the start.

Breast milk alters over first year and at the start of the second year settles into it's fully mature status.

Milk has a necessary place in all young children's diet and if our children were not breastfed we would have to introduce milk from another animal to meet the child's nutrient ally needs.

Surely human milk is preferable for human babies where the mother is able and willing to provide it ?
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Ignoring the nutrient side, the act of breastfeeding has many other purposes.

It helps mother and child bond and reconnect especially when the child has been separated during the day from the mother.

It calms the child when angry, breastfed children rarely have tantrums.

The skin to skin contact regulates the child's heart rate, temperature and breathing.

The mother's antibodies in the milk, prevent and shorten childhood illness.

It helps induce sleep in the child and the act of nursing creates hormones in the mother which allow her to fall to sleep more readily and to get better quality sleep.

Lastly it is a free healthy readily available snack and drink which is can never be forgotten and will never run out