'Mother breastfeeds 5yo son' Is this really news?

[Disenchanted3]

BBC article here

Really amazes me the stuff that is classed as news these days

is this the same woman?

lots of lovely DAily Mail comments.

She says "Ms Hurst said breastfeeding Jonathan would stop when he lost the ability to suckle as his milk teeth fell out."

Which got me thinking - why are your baby teeth called milk teeth anyway? Did people used to feed till they fell out? Is that where the phrase comes from?

Thats a good point lowrib - it sounds right as well.

Thanks for the info OP8 and Cd'A, I'll take a look at the links.

Cote, I don't think anyone is saying a late weaning age is the average. I said I thought it might be, went away and checked, found out it was misinformation and said so. I wouldn't all 'sticking a pin' in a set of figures good methodology which is why I used that phrase, sorry if that wasn't clearer. So I no longer claim it is 4-5 years (I only asked in the first place). I'm not too sure what your faces are about. All I've said are there are some places where it's the norm, just as here where it isn't there are some people who do it. I agree with you that 'there are a lot of people in the world and some do things differently.'

I don't mind how people feed their children, or for how long. I do object to people being called freaks though, that just isn't nice. I just felt I should come back and clarify my first question as I didn't want me saying it to mean it was presented as a 'truth'

Hey, I thought I was in the news there for a minute!

Custy, it's not about the mother's needs. It's really, really not. If you could see how hard I've tried to dissuade my 5-y-o from feeding, and how upset he gets at times when I won't let him, you'd understand that.

It was the bit about feeding him until his milk teeth fell out that made me - simply because DS is 7 and as yet as only lost one milk tooth and the thought of still breast feeding him now is - I'm afraid to say - very definitely weird.

I don't understand why he would lose the ability to such when his milk teeth fall out? Babies can suck perfectly well with or without teeth.

It interests me that there are people who comment on what other women do re bf. The "only feeding him to sate some deep-seated maternal need" thing is generally such a load of hogwash.

It also interests me that almost nobody who's ever done it for any length of time holds these views - now, either we are all in denial, or it's not true.

It's a shame - with any other skill/experience, if you've done it for an appreciable length of time, you're skilled/experienced and people think you know your onions. With breastfeeding, if you have several years' experience, people think you're a nutjob. No wonder bf is in such a state in this country!

Needs of the mother? Do me a facking favour. I weaned dd 5 months ago, against her will I'm afraid. Five months on and she still mentions it/asks for it almost every day.

If anything is about the needs of the mother it's weaning, not carrying on.

4 years and 2 months, lenin. Not sure it was the best decision, but I'd had enough and was also feeling the pressure from outside to stop. She seemed to accept it without too much trauma at the time (with some bribery), so I thought she would forget about it within a few weeks. I was very wrong.

My DS got his milk teeth late as a baby and lost the first milk tooth at 7yrs so I don't think that it says anything.

Needs of the mother stuff is a load of rubbish. 2 of my 5 fed until they were 51/2 and I fed for 17 tears solid . Believe me, I REALLY wanted to stop. BUT the children weren't ready. As they got older they were open to negotiations and didn't ask for it outside the house. DS3 understood that he would have to stop when he started school and by the September weekend had stopped, but kept on asking. DD stopped when DS4 was born, I tandem fed her and DS3 for years, because the milk changed and she didn;t like it, also because she was big sister and wanted to be "a big girl". DS4, finally weaned himself when he was 51/2 with no help from me. all managed to stop with no trauma, crying or stress at all.

I really understand the stress women fee and the weariness. But children do eventually "grow out" of bf if left to themselves and the Don't offer, don't refuse policy. I can't understand why this kind of story is news, though, except maybe in a finger pointing sort of way.

I too think the needs of the mother thing a load of rot.My GP was asking me "is it for her or for you?" when dd was 15m old.I am still feeding my dd who was three this week and she got really upset when her big sister today said she was "too big " now to breastfeed .She really wants to still feed and I am going along with that even though I would happily stop,because she really seems to still need the comfort of feeding and she enjoys it.I just can't see any reason to say no. I know of several people who fed until over three actually but they kept it virtually a secret.How terrible it is that we live in a society where women have to hide the fact they are feeding their infants. v depressing.