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

[lisalisa]

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Hercules, it makes children SO clingy.

Sorry, you don't count

Darn!

to each their own, but i personally couldnt. i cant imagine b/f my sons looking at the pair of them now (erm, the kids!) big strapping 4 and 6 and thinking of them having a drink! and if you b/f to 7, why not 8, 9, 10.... where to say now this is no longer the thing to do - imagining a 25yr old with his newspaper and cereal and gob round mummys boob! ok, now im messing!!
i would express and give from a container if i felt that my milk was the best choice for an older child but i wouldnt like my child to remember coming home from school and sucking my nipples before doing their homework!!!!
social services take them away for stuff like that!

It didn't make my dd clingy ... she's one of the most independent 4 year olds I've ever come across.

M2PW, I hope that's a pisstake post...

Just told ds (now 9) who was bf till he was 4 and sees his nearly 2 year old ds bf that some people think it's about mother's needs.
He thought that was crummy talk!

Actually when my sister had her police training they were told that bf an older child was not a criminal offence and was perfectly acceptable in so many cultures.

what i mean is, if it is the benefits of continued ingestion of the mothers milk that is the issue here, it is my opinion that past a certain age it would be a good idea to consider expressing and offering the milk from a bottle rather than the breast.

What a silly post, mytwopenceworth. Social services - pmsl.

Why would anyone express and put it in a bottle??
Now that is barmy!

not a piss take meaning that i am mocking peoples views, but being lighthearted and not serious about social services yes.

I think its frowned upon by some because when a child is older they have meals ect. i have no feelings either was as i said before each to there own, but in third world countrys kids are fed up to the time they are 9,10 maybe more as they dont have other food supplys so it at least gives them something!

i could only get out 2 oz in the end by expressing . What should I have done???

I didn't think it mattered how long you b/fed for, ie 6 months/9 months/2 years whatever.

And I am not saying that it is always mothers needs, just in the ONE case that I know, it was and it can be in others as well.

Why would it make them clingy, don't understand the reasoning on that one.

Well, I expressed for DS from when he was 6mo to a year for when I was at work. It got increasingly difficult to get enough for a feed as a pump's not as good at getting the milk as he is.

Why the heck would I go to the trouble of washing up a breastpump and expressing for literally hours a week for his morning and bedtime feeds when he could just latch on?!

As for likening it to child abuse...words fail me.

Yes, cos that was really funny.
I saw a child in Year 1 in Ds's school being pushed home in a push chair with a dummy in his mouth.

Should I report his mum??? Is it worse as it's a rubber nipple??

Hercules - i expressed into a bottle as i wanted to feed ds on the boob but i was in medication untill 5 daysa fter he was bord and by the time i was able he wouldnt even latch on to the breast so i expressed into his bottle - i figured at least this way he still gets what best for him.

Well I don't see what's wrong with mothers' needs.

Mothers' needs and children's needs are so inextricably bound up, that I don't think it makes sense to talk about mothers' needs in isolation.

I bf my ds because I had an emotional need to feel that I was doing the best for him. I tried to continue to bf my dd in the face of huge difficulties because I had an emotional need to feel that I was doing the best for her. Was this me being selfish, trying to fulfill my need to feel like a good mother? In fact, aren't all bf mothers just selfish?

I mean, that argument could go round and round... but what it comes down to in the end, is good old fashioned distrust of women's ability to make choices about their lives and children.

At least you avoided social services!

Lor, we've had social services, now should we have bitty?

Is it about the right stage in the thread?

About time, Caligula!

Don't know why you're even bothering.

hunker - i wasnt likening it to child abuse. it is NOT my opinion that breastfeeding is abuse!!!!!!! i was joking about the cut off point (see bit about 25 yr old bloke!) - and was making a light remark - it is something i say about lots of stuff- playing pretend fight with my kids tip them upside down 'somebody call social services', I dont give them sweets & say to dh 'theyll be on the phone to the nspcc' - (but just remembered that since you lot dont know me, you wouldnt know that)
if you read my post, its tone is light - im not serious about a 25yr old breastfeeding at the breakfast table either!

Have had time to read the entire thread, so I am probably repeating what loads of people have said already. I think if it's what the child wants and the parent wants to continue doing it, then why not.

I do find it strange when you see a 3 year old walk up to his mum and pull up her top. However, I do admire women that are happy to continue doing it for that long for the benefit of their child.