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

[lisalisa]

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lovely moment spidermama - i'm in awe of mothers who manage to breastfeed for as long as the child wants to, actually. i don't know if i'll be able to do it myself, ds only 10months and only partially breastfed due to what doctors diagnosed as allergy to food proteins in my milk - they wanted me to give up completely but i've managed to eradicate his symptoms by a careful diet for myself and combined breast feeding and hypoallerginic formula neocate. Would like to go on as long as poss tho.

i found la leche league very supportive when we were going thru a difficult time, and don't know what i would have done without their knowledge and support.

all credit to you then ruty...the things we do for our babies, huh?!
this thread has really opened my eyes to the fact that i'd really like to feed ds for as long as we're both happy to, regardless of what anyone else thinks. (when pg i thought, oh abt 6 mths bf, now ds is almost 6 mths, i was thinking, oh until 1 & then cows milk...)
so nearly 800 posts later - a positive outcome

thanks roosmum - its funny this thread has had the same effect on me!

Blimey, nearly 800 posts! Dread to think how many of them are mine

Roosmum, that's fantastic! I think I said earlier in the thread (or it may have been in a past life - maybe the same thing?!) that if you'd told me I'd still be feeding DS when he was 15mo when he was a week old, I'd have collapsed sobbing. But time goes on and you still feed...it's easy, they like it, why stop?

Nooka, no problem here - my boobs are shared between DS and DH - they don't want access at the same time (), everybody's happy

Ruty - fantastic!

don't theyb(WHO) reccomend cows milk for health reasons??? Therefore any more after that is not necessary but just given for the mothers benefit only (emotional reasons only) and of not much benefit to baby but pro longing the attacthment that can be given in other more neneficial ways???

I think 1 year is sifficient to fullfill ahwt breast milk was intended for

No, NJ, they don't.

You haven't read the link then? Please do!

I'd give my DH no say in the matter and wouldn't see it as anything which need concern him. They're my breasts.

Actually this is easy for me to say because DH has always been very supportive of my methods so I'm lucky.

Is there a record for the longest MN thread?

i can't believe you didn't even read the link to WHO NJ! Wow. And by the way, us breastfeeding mothers are not drinkers.

oh Malory Towers you really are hilarious.

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MT, wonder if you'd change your view if you read the thread?

Great MaloryTowers. Unashamedly ill-informed. In fact you seem to wear your ignorance with pride.

hunker...not at the same time, i shd think not

reminds me of an incident way back when we first tried some duvet action after ds was born...poor boobs got v. v. confused, there was milk everywhere had to stop, we were laughing so much!!

i guess the other thing is that, right now, i wouldn't know HOW to stop (oh well, guess i cd search the archives ). & of course it's going so well that i have no need to even think of stopping, someone said lower down that there had never been a good time to stop, it seemed illogical to feed one day, stop the next....see you in XX months on an extended bf thread maybe

i met a mum recently who was still bf her 18 mth old (ok, small fry compared to some on here i guess), & she told me that she didn't want to stop as she felt that to do so would be to risk hurting her ds's feelings - as if he'd done something wrong etc, i really respected her sensitivity to her LO's feelings/emotional needs. that also made me think (it was before reading this thread). i just wonder how often this gets overlooked??

It REALLY ANNOYS ME when people imply that I only breastfed my baby past 12months to fulfill some emotional "need" of mine.

A) You have no right to comment on my emotional needs
B) You are talking rubbish. It's a pain having a toddler who thinks the solution to most things that upset him is a quick nuzzle.
I spend a lot of time distracting him because I don't like functioning as a snack bar. But sometimes he's tired or thirsty or overwhelmed, and I have no doubt that my milk is a lot more nutritious for him than cow's milk/apple juice/water, etc.

Why do I have to be judged for giving my child what is in effect, a perfectly balanced, liquid multi-vitamin which is very cheap, convenient to administer and happens to give health benefits to me, as well?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Nursey Jo, as you won't read the link, the WHO recommends breastfeeding up to two. OK? Now you can pass that on. got to go to be bed now.

Also uniquely brilliant food for your ds fqz.

sorry but can i just shout.. 'TROLL ALERT'

Would have personally fed ds for longer but had to stop at 12 months. Still the bonding expereiece was incredible. Good on you spidermama. At the end of the day it is what works best form both mum and baby.

oh wow, what happened whilst i was idly (slowly) typing my last post?!!

malorytowers: you have no reasons to give - that we would be prepared to listen/give any credit to - so that's that really.

nannies JUST READ THE LINK, please, just give some indication that you've taken a look, right?

Ruty...they recommend it to "at least two"

oops!