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

[Disenchanted3]

BBC article here

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

Doesn't worry me if some women choose to do extended breastfeeding; their choice. But inventing statistics always makes me

HelenRosie, I'm sceptical about your posts. Given that

1. It's such a rarity to bf 'on demand' (does anyone bf a 2 year old on demand?) beyond two years, it's unlikely that you could have come across many cases
2. Of the cases that you might encounter I'm surprised that the parents inform you of this
3. Your conclusion that it is bf, not diet that has caused the caries isn't supported by fact
4. If bf was definitively so damaging then we would see infinitely more tooth decay in historical human remains from societies where bf would have continued for years (and tooth brushing with fluoride toothpaste not an option)

I expect you can see where I'm going with this...

Yes quite vlc. Also rather astonished by this:

"but sadly many of the parents who practice extended breastfeeding are the same ones who won't give their children fluoride"

I mean just how many extended-breastfeeding-on-demand-fluoride-sceptics can there be?

Do they fill in questionaires?!

HelenRosie, I wonder if your concern about extended feeding is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy. i.e. You only question the feeding habits of children with cavities and when questioned you are finding more than you expect still breastfeeding.

Where as children with good teeth are never asked about their feeding habits, so how do you know that many of the children with good teeth at your surgery are not similarly still breastfed ?

Just a thought....My dentist certainly compliments my children's teeth and they are both (unknown to him) still breastfed.

That would make sense. I also had a dentist who has also always been very complimentary about dd's teeth and the issue of breastfeeding certainly never came up.

"There is nothing wrong with giving a child the comfort that he craves in the manner that he craves it."

I disagree with that. As their parents, we gently guide them towards different comforts as they grow - ones that encourage their emotional development and don't cause them physical harm.

We take away the dummy before a child's palate and upper jaw are deformed. We potty train and take away the nappy although a child might find it comforting to have it on. We do all these things because we see beyond the comfort of the moment and think of the long term benefits.

A 3 yr old who wakes up in the night with a nightmare can be comforted with talk, hugs, and kisses. If his mom has put a boob in his mouth whenever he cried in the night prior to that point, maybe he won't have developed these alternate coping mechanisms. That is not a good thing.

"I sucked my thumb until adulthood so did my brother, we are both normal, well adjusted human beings who have suffered no trauma from our protracted thumb sucking"

I didn't see anyone say thumb sucking would cause psychological trauma.

What about your mouth, though? What sort of an overbite do you have? Front teeth sticking out much?

I know only two children who suck their thumbs regularly, and at 3 and 5, their upper jaws are already deformed in that trademark way

"If his mom has put a boob in his mouth whenever he cried in the night prior to that point, maybe he won't have developed these alternate coping mechanisms"

It's this sort of comment that makes me switch off to what might otherwise pass for a reasonable argument.

Women who breastfeed toddlers/older children generally don't offer the breast at all, let alone put their boobs in their children's mouths as you so charmingly put it. Perhaps you might want to actually spend some time with some longer term breastfeeders before you comment on "physical harm" and "emotional development", as at the moment you seem to have a very peculiar idea indeed about how it all works.

Both my children were night weaned around the 16/18 months mark, so no nighttime boob being put anywhere near the children

I also love the assumption that if you are still breastfeeding that you will not/can not comfort your child in any other manner.

I hug, kiss, play with, talk to and nurse my children. We don't sit on the sofa all day breastfeeding and not communicating

"Women who breastfeed toddlers/older children generally don't offer the breast at all"
could you clarify that, please.

As Leningrad says, its easy if your child decides when they want to stop something. ds announced 'big boy pants only', much sooner than i was actually resady to potty train.
But if your child doesn't want to stop. Then that is much more difficult.

Oblomov, breastfeeding a toddler pretty much always happens at the toddler's request. I can't think of a single time that I offered to bf dd after she was walking.

(And btw that's not necessarily the same as feeding on demand. We were down to one feed in the morning and one at bedtime fairly early on, which seems to be a fairly common pattern.)

sorry, had we gone back to talking about toddlers. actually, even toddler can cover quite a range of ages.

I do think 5 is too old. But then I also think its too old for bottles, cotbed, nappies and dummies.

well thats true Leningrad. But then why do we debate.
Do you think its wrong to : let a dh go to a stag, smack, not leave a child in the car whilst you pay for petrol , etc etc.
I think breast is best. Lots of ff's think formula is fine.
I think 5 is too old for lots of things. I don't think thats an unreasonable view.

Most of the discussion points on MN do not directly affect me and are none of my business, I think.

I am not sure what my cut off is. or why. I guess toddler'ish.

Zephirine - If you had actually read my post before going off on an emotional tangent, you may have realized that my reply was to the comment "There is nothing wrong with giving a child the comfort that he craves in the manner that he craves it" and the "physical harm" I referred to was deformation of the palate & upper jaw following extended dummy use. Not extended breastfeeding.

I would love to spend some time with mums who breastfeed their children beyond the second year, but I don't know any. I haven't even heard of anyone who breastfeeds a two year old, let alone what you might consider "extended breastfeeding".

While you might like to think it is "normal" (in the "usual" sense of the word), extended breastfeeders are very few and far between.

I wasn't saying they tend to breastfeed on demand through the night, by the way. What I gave was an example to illustrate my point that it was not always a good idea to give a child "comfort that he craves in the manner that he craves it". It was one of many examples in that post.