Live webchat with Ann Sinnott, author of Breastfeeding Older Children, Friday 26 Mar, noon-1pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

By popular demand we have Ann Sinnott joining us for a webchat this Friday at noon.

Ann is a former magazine and newspaper journalist, who went freelance when her daughter was born. She breastfed her daughter until she was six and a half, and spent two years researching and writing Breastfeeding Older Children.

Hope you can join us on Friday 26 March. If you can't, please post your question here as usual, and Ann will do her best to get through as many as possible.

Thanks

I've bought tops from www.mummylooksfab.co.uk but found them a bit hit and miss, although very happy to do returns (i bought a dress for a wedding and it was jersey material, bit too tight for postnatal me and not the colour i was expecting)
These guys look good www.milkbug.co.uk/home.php

I also bought 2 tops from H&M ages ago, and they are my favourite and also v cheap, £15. You'd have to go in or ring up and see what they do. This was last year so I've no idea if they still do them.

sorry, wrong post on wrong thread!

Thank you Ann for the webchat.

To:
goldfish20

In the survey for Breastfeeding Older Children there were a few breastfeeding 10 and 11 yr olds. The mothers didn?t say much beyond stating facts, but one (Child 1: bfd 5yrs; Child 2: 10yrs) had this to say:

Interestingly, neither one was a completely natural weaning, ie they still needed a bit of motherly nudging. Pity, because one of my motivations for carrying on breastfeeding so long was out of curiosity to see where it would take us and how the natural weanings would occur. But there came a point where even I had had enough!

I will see how I can get my email to you and, if you like, we can talk. Maybe you would like to be linked up to other mothers who are/have bfd 10 year olds?

To: Others

Have asked MN to keep this thread live for a few days so that I can respond to those I couldn't get round to - hopefully they will agree.

Sorry, Spoof ? yours was the first question, and I missed it! In BOC, one little boy, who bfd for several years, remarked that breastfeeding wasn?t included in sex education classes at school. Because of the media coverage of BOC, I?ve had conversations with my daughter?s many friends (17/18yr olds) and they have had discussions between themselves. After the Daily Mail piece, DD came and reported the reaction of one of her boy mates to the DMail?s comments: ?Don?t they realize that long-term breastfeeding is NORMAL!?!? Point is (though this particular lad was bfd for 2yrs), none of them regarded sustained bfdg as normal before (and at least one girl had the ?eww? reaction) and all have become at least open to it.

So, yes, breastfeeding to be included in sex ed, including long-terming.

cleanandclothed.
Yes, without early bfdg there can be no long-terming. More resources need to be directed toward mother support ? too many women give up because of needless pain and discomfort; and many are left with lifelong regret, even when they go on to breastfeed subsequent children.

Yes, one day at a time, one step at a time?

TruthSweet
Thanks for contributing, you strengthened the book! Did actually use comments from a number of Web Qs?

I sincerely hope that the information in BOC will get relayed, by one means or another, to HCP?s. Those who read the book will know that there is no scientific evidence-base whatsoever for HCPs comments/assertions!

All of those myths are commonly trotted out and dealt with in BOC. One chapter ? Ch 2 Why Children Continue ? deals with psychologists at length. Karleen Gribble?s 2005 Australian study into mother-motivation, found overwhelmingly that mothers continue because their children want to continue. The BOC survey found the same.

Many mothers set boundaries ? no harm, we do what we need to do!

Penthesileia
Your daughter was delightful! Glad you enjoyed the book and found it useful. Supportive partners are worth their weight in gold! Heartening to hear of an enlighted GP and helpful HCPs ? wish more were like them! When children are ill and don?t eat but revert to breastfeeding like crazy, yet don?t lose weight/much weight, it gives the lie to the often trotted-out [erroneous] assertion that there is no nutritional benefit in bm after 6mths/12mths/2yrs/whatever.

TigerFeet
Advice you could give? Get hold of a copy of BOC! Look at Kellymom.com. Speak to bfdg groups/orgs familiar with long-terming. Thousands of women in developed world are bfdg long-term! There is no evidence-base for HCPs directives to stop.

ChocolateHelps [oh yes, it does!]
See response to TruthSweet, and previous responses/posts re tandem-feeding.

BootyMum
See previous responses/comments by others to essenceofSES.

GreenMonkies
Hi Jenny, thanks for lovely comments. Yes, it?s all maddening and frustrating. The shenanigans at the DMail prior to the piece appearing were hard to fathom! There?s no way of knowing the real truth, but the editor finally told me they didn?t want to use you because you had appeared too often elsewhere? Who knows?! Anyway, on balance the piece wasn?t too bad (for mainstream press), so maybe they wanted to counter the content??

jamaisjedors
☺ Because you will become a valuable resource and source of info! And will also have a copy to loan out!

aviatrix
Sounds like you really do need not to be woken so early, and your bfdg relationship with your son would also benefit. We all, adults as well as children, get into grooves, until a link in the chain is broken. Families differ. Some 4yr olds go to bed somewhat later. Perhaps you could vary bedtime some days? Perhaps you could also introduce an extra evening special feed (ie, not daytime), and let him know that it substitutes for the early morning one? There are many opportunities in daily life for setting boundaries, why choose bfdg? Don?t worry, the massive anecdotal evidence in BOC and my own personal experience, says co-operating/negotiating/compromising with your son around his continuing access to your breast will not spoil him ? quite the opposite!

Babieseverywhere
Might well! ☺

Lymond
Thanks, and glad you found the webchat useful!

goldenpeach
You say it right! HCPs should not pass off their personal/received opinions as scientific fact!

confuddledDOTcom
Thanks for contributing!

twoistwiceasfun
No, I politely waited to be given the [pre-agreed] chance to speak again, but the opportunity never materialized. Something I?ll regret forever. In future, I?ll hog the time and say all I want to say immediately!

LeninGrad
Many thanks ? your comments mean a lot; and I know they do to Gabrielle as well.

BouncingTurtle, PuzzleRocks, Babieseverywhere, jamaisjedors, rubyslippers, BertieBotts, and MN!
ThankYOU!

On instruction from MN, I must tell you that this thread is now closed. Many thanks for all your interesting questions. And thanks for not asking the biscuit question! (no, no - cakes!)

French version of BOC is due out in Sept - publisher Editions du Hetre, which is owned & run by two long-terming mothers.

There are mothers here who are also on Facebook, so if anyone ever wants to draw my attention to something happening on MN, get someone to post to BOC Fb page.

Be/stay strong and confident ? the culture is in flux, and that's a sign that change is underway!

goldfish20 - Geraldine at MNHQ can give you an email address for me ? I'd very much like to talk with you and see if I can help.

Not sure if this will appear but thank you again Ann, I will point out your book to my bf group.
bye!