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

[lisalisa]

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Powdered milk is vile and repugnant.

Just my opinion though, not passing judgement.

Tra-la-la!

I would say a judgement is a strong view for or against something.

An opionion is just that, not arsed either way, just a view.

Now if I could spell opinion.....

But to express an opinion using words like repugnant, surely that's a judgement?

I 'feel' that any child fed cows milk out of a rubber nipple should be taken away by social services.
Now what is that?

So an opinion might be changed, but a judgement probably won't be?

Yes Caligula, spot on.

x

Not getting involved (now there's a first!) but just have to giggle audibly at hm's powdered milk opinion (or was it a judgement????)

Wondered where you were Moondog!

flipping heck hercules, fair enough. i never got homework till i started secondary school so my mental picture when i typed that was a teenager in school uniform chucking their bag on the floor and coming over. it was flippant it was off the cuff it was not about real life! and i JOKED that if you saw that you would call in ss (who deal with everyone! from birth thru to the elderly!!)

now stop slapping me around.

What a fantastic post, geekgrrl.

I find it very odd that anyone should be concerned about a small child 'invading' their 'personal space' and should not do so without being specifically invited. So my son who is three shouldn't ever cuddle me or kiss me unless I specifically invite him to do so? Surely the whole point of your relationship with your children is that is intrinsically physical and intimate and not dependent on 'invitations' but on being spontaneous and impulsive.
Breastfeeding until four is not for me, but it is clearly quite natural and does no harm to anyone.
As for mother's needs - I agree with Caligula. For heaven's sake, we have children to satisfy our own 'needs'! Nobody has a baby for the sake of the baby.
And just because you feel sad when you stop breastfeeding doesn't mean it's all for you. I have been sad when I finished breastfeeding, when ds left his first childminder, when he turned two days old instead of one day old.... the passing of time is poignant for most of us, surely?

As for a child 'shouldn't' do things for 'babies' well, who decides they these 'things' are just for babies? Who made the law that breastfeeding is only for children less than a year old?

2 good posts, there, aloha

hear, hear aloha. Very well put across.

aloha, as I made some of those comments, I will explain.

I was trying to post my thoughts on why I personally find the idea of breastfeeding a four year old makes me uncomfortable. I was not passing comment on other people, just saying why I feel the way I do, given that other people had commented and were shot down. Our personal feelings about things are surely our own, and if there is a debate is it not useful to say why we might feel the way we do (about the topic in question, anyway). I'm not implying that anyone else feels, or should feel the same way I do.

So of course there is no law, nor should there be, but I personally feel that there is a difference between a baby (generally I'd be thinking of a pre-talking child - maybe 18mths or so?) and a four year old in many many ways.

Personally I do think there is a difference between a cuddle and breastfeeding - but then maybe it's because personally I enjoy one and wasn't very keen on the other, and the reason was I didn't enjoy bf was because after a while I found I disliked having the baby attached to me so intimately.

I don't particularly see it's my business what other people chose to do (at least in regard of breastfeeding), but the original post asked "what do you think about this", and what I posted is what I think.

Actually, i think you did something pretty amazing by breastfeeding when you didn't like it - and I truly mean that,.
Yes of course an infant is different to a four year old child, but i still say that the definition of breastfeeding as only for babies is totally artificial (and modern). Who says? You might just as well say, cuddles are only for babies.
I wouldn't feed until 4 myself for several reasons - I would feel embarrassed for a start - but I know that this doesn't make it wrong.

well, it wasn't all bad! Just over time I increasingly found it difficult emotionally. Compared to some people's experience it was a walk in the park (no latching on problems, no mastitis etc).

I'm not sure I go for concepts of natural/artificial though - I think that natural is a very loaded word. Hard to think of many things that don't have a cultural aspect as to why we do them. For example some cultures in the past used wet nurses quite extensively (although only for the rich and powerful granted) whilst others have a culture where mothers happily breastfeed each other's children. Many people wouldn't think of that as natural, but for those mothers it is.

Whether it's natural or not doesn't have much to do with whether it's right or wrong. After all that's largly a cultural construct too (essentially being the opinion of the majority/those in power).

"Whether it's natural or not doesn't have much to do with whether it's right or wrong. After all that's largly a cultural construct too (essentially being the opinion of the majority/those in power). "

Except in this case where it is natural and only a minority do it and a majority think that it's wrong (or even just a bit yukky).

Nooka,fair and rational point about it not being 'your business' what people do but as you have been asked to state your opinion,then yes,frankly anything goes.

ah - missed word should have said whether it's considered right or wrong.

not quite sure that anything goes - after all there is the mumsnet philosophy

See going back to that point about "anyone who actually listens to their hv is unlikely to feed past age of one". This is something I had been wondering about as my sil was advised to increase solids really quite substantially and now her milk supply is dropping off and her 10month dd is already down to just two feeds a day and losing interest somewhat She is putting it down to being the baby's choice like she has decided to wean herself. I havent the heart to tell her I believe otherwise and am being very careful about slow and gradual introduction of solids for my ds, hopefully I will avoid any conversations with my hv if she has the attitude that solids should be increased faster. Just wondered if that type of thing is widespread? guess it probably is.

I've fed my kids as long and they want it. The last breastfeed I gave my dd1 was when she fell and hurt herself in a playground and was inconsolable. She was 4. I was really grateful to be able to do it.

My ds2 fed til he was nearly 3. Ds3 til he was 2 1/2 and I'm now feeding ds3 who's just 6 monnths.

I know a woman who still gives her 5 year old the odd sup.

Internationally women feed much longer than we do here and the average time a child will stop is 5/6.

I think it's fine to do it as long as you and the child want to. However, as my friend points out, some people react a bit hysterically so be aware of their prejudice lest it hurts your feelings.

Nah. Tits'd be hanging off you. They only just bounced back 6 months after I stopped and I fed for a year which was lovely. Can't imagine boob feeding the little rascal now though and she is 18months. each to their own thouh innit.