Breastfeeding till the age of 4 - what do you think?

[lisalisa]

Message withdrawn

Little Mo on EE breastfed and mentioned EBM once that I recall too.

How many of you mummies have tried breast feeding and for one reason or another couldent?

oh god, NOOOOO, please don't get onto that one Lisa!!!!!

Oh dear, sore subject for some reason?

What point are you making, Lisa?

Im not trying to be funny... just asking, thats all.
My mum could only last 3 days with bf-ing me and i was just curious.

There are lots of threads in the archives about mums who couldn't breastfeed for one reason or another. Lots of them would have been able to with the right advice and support at the time (your mum may have been able to as well) - which is why it gets so heated here when somebody who purports to be professional and gives advice for a living is ill-informed.

Katie in Brookside breastfed and wouldn't give baby rice at 17 weeks despite considerable pressure to do so.

My mum tried time and time again with me but my suck was just too hard that it left her bruised and in agony.

Plenty of babies have very strong sucks (DS is one!), but if you get the latch right, it doesn't hurt. Like I said, good support and guidance from someone who knows what they're talking about is the key to breastfeeding successfully (or stubborn bloodymindedness ).

darling ds is like a vacuum - when he was a newborn my areloa had bruises all over. and had lovebite-type bruises over skin on boobs as whenever he was in sling he'd try to suction on anywhere he could!

My DS2 had/has a very strong suck. It still hurts sometimes now, at 10 months! He had sucking blisters on both lips, all the way around (not just the little tiny one you often see on the bottom lip), for months!

Thankfully, I have a high pain threshold, and am very determined. And even so, it really really hurt at first. One good thing, though, he never fed for very long at all. And my supply was always good.

Im sorry but how could she possibly continue when i had bruised her.
Also the advice she was given was not to proceed.

Bruises causes pain, latch or no latch.

This isnt a one off as my friend has reciently had her 4th son and she bf all of her boys but this baby has done the same to her as i did to my mum and i have seen the evedence.

The breastfeeding support that was give 20 - 30 years ago was very different to today. Four hourly feeding, limited time at the breast, restricted diets for mum etc.

Nowaday, if you have difficulties with latch, there will be a variety of techniques suggested to overcome it - such as stripping off for skin-to-skin contact.

There's no denying that the suction of newborn is something else - quite shocking really.

I got over that by using nipple shields for a couple of days. Not recommended for long term use (because of it reducing supply) but enables you to feed with bruises if the baby is latched properly.

dinny dd3 does that. i co-sleep sometimes and she tries to latch onto my boob and not nipples, and has me with bruises before.

Lisa, I'm really not going to debate whether or not a woman should have breastfed decades ago!

Women do overcome problems like that, every day. Some choose not to, some are advised not to by people who haven't a clue that there is an option.

Here's to Stubborn Bloody-mindedness. I had to 'teach' DS1, (5lbs lethargic and orange with jaundice how to feed...) Took over 2 weeks and lots of discomfort. Thank heavens for DH's support and the advice of the LLL leaders in my community. All the health care professionals advised us to formula feed him.

I won't even go into the abcess and repeated mastitis with DS2 after an effortless time with DD...

Er Lisa... so often the advice given is not to proceed. And when you're having hell trying to bf, that advice is such a relief to follow if you don't know that it's wrong. Which is why so many of us get so annoyed about that advice being given inappopriately (it's not inappropriate in every single case, but it's usually advice from HV's or mw's who simply aren't trained bf counsellors so can't support a woman who wants to bf and is having problems effectively).

sorry but anything after the age of 18 months is okay, after that can't see why the bottle or cup wouldn't be more appropriate, haven't read it all but think very very wrong for 4 year olds to do this.

Lisa, this is worth another thread if you are really wanting to discuss it.

But I don't think it will be enlightening unless your mum herself takes part!!

I can well believe your mum was told to stop.

But it means nothing, truly. It certainly doesn't mean that if it happened today she would be given the same advice.

Decades ago hey!!!

My friends will not bf her baby now as a result of the pain she is in. Her baby has drawn blood from her and has been advised not to continue. this is only what she has told me and i cant see her making it up TBH

Cadmum - it took me 9 weeks to properly establish bf with DS. And if it hadn't been for the fact that my HV was one of those rarities, a bf counsellor as well, there is no way I could have succeeded.

When I had my DD I had a bog standard HV who wasn't a bf counsellor, and gave up after 2 weeks, much to her relief!

before 18 months I meant.

"Wrong" Leonardo? What, morally wrong?