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Original poster

Views on if there's an age limit to breastfeeding in public

313 replies

Mud · 14/04/2005 20:02

I am totally for breastfeeding for as long as you are able / want to do it. So have no issues with extended breastfeeding (probably would put a cut off before 3 though)

I do however think that once a baby is no longer reliant on breast milk, and is totally weaned (probably around a year when it progresses to being a toddler) that it becomes a far more private affair between mother and toddler and should remain in the home (morning and night feeds)

So at what stage does a baby no longer need milk during the day? I think from a year. I think from a year is too old to offer a breast in public. And think especially if a toddler can walk, talk, pull up your top and accept a beaker then I think that's too old to breastfeed in public

your opinion is?

OP posts:
aloha · 14/04/2005 21:08

Um, so infant schools are for under-ones, are they?
And infant prodigies are all babies?

zaphod · 14/04/2005 21:08

I have no problem with people choosing to feed their babies/toddlers/children in public. I wish everyone felt the same because I feel uncomfortable feeding my 20month old in public.

hoxtonchick · 14/04/2005 21:08

i find it very offensive when people read the daily mail in public. makes me tut loudly & walk away .

jollymum · 14/04/2005 21:08

SP-why does he need breastmilk? He can have cows milk from one yr old. He can have organic milk if necessary but how long do you have to keep to a brilliant diet, no fags, booze, unhealthy foood etc, bearing in mind that unless you are totally organic he's absorbing your "food".
Bundle, I am not a man lover/hater but presumably any man likes boobs. Mine would be well pissed off if they were a no go area for two years upwards and then guess, what I'm pregnant again and they're for the "baby" only. Breastfeeding is for nutritional purposes mainly. As all the endless discussions on here for years and years have discussed, no-one is right or wrong about the "right" way to feed babies. BUT how long to feed them is only governed by the mother. My sons would have been mortified if I'd tried to feed them at two/three years old. They were "big" boys, out of nappies, no bottles and before you all jump on me, loved as much as anyone else's children. I didn't have to prove a point with them, they were just loved.

morningpaper · 14/04/2005 21:09

Reading the Daily Mail in public is even worse! You should at least do it in the toilets...

bundle · 14/04/2005 21:09

oooh aloha, you're not tinkering around with words are you?

morningpaper · 14/04/2005 21:10

Jollymum: Why is it preferable for a 1 year old to have milk from a hormone-pumped dirty cow in a field, rather than it's own mother's milk?!! We are a different species you know...

binkybetsy · 14/04/2005 21:10

Hmm Mud I think the children we're discussing in age have generally learned to fall asleep on their own by now, so I'm not sure the sleep association argument holds much water. Can I ask at what age/development do the mums who extend feeding feel it time to stop?

aloha · 14/04/2005 21:11

Why does a child 'need' a bedtime story? Cuddles? Tickling?

Gobbledigook · 14/04/2005 21:11

Call me pedantic but I'm afraid that is what 'infant' means. Just saying.

paolosgirl · 14/04/2005 21:11

Good point, Jolly. I thought the breast v. bottle debates here had more or less agreed that breastfeeding is no more bond-forming that bottle feeding.

jane313 · 14/04/2005 21:11

why are breasts no go for men when you breastfeed? Isn't it a bit of a myth that you have to be ultrahealthy to produce good breastmilk?

aloha · 14/04/2005 21:11

No, in this country it is not what it means. Go to your dictionary! It is the derivation, not the meaning.

lockets · 14/04/2005 21:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bundle · 14/04/2005 21:12

jollymum, i don't try to prove a point with my children either, what a silly thing to say. and there's no question of forcing my dd to bf, do you seriously think that's what i do???

and who says breasts have to be for one thing?

marthamoo · 14/04/2005 21:12

Excellent post, aloha. The world is mad.

Gobbledigook · 14/04/2005 21:12

OK, hands up who here drinks breastmilk?

paolosgirl · 14/04/2005 21:12

Also re hormone pumped cows milk - does that include yoghurt, cheese etc?

SenoraPostrophe · 14/04/2005 21:12

jollymum - I corrected myself in the following post. he doesn't need breastmilk, but it is better for him, no matter how crappy my diet. antibodies, long chain fatty acids n stuff.

Don't really see the point of the rest of your post - of course your sons are loved, but do you mean that because they didn't want to breastfeed at that age, no-one else should?

marthamoo · 14/04/2005 21:13

I mean your one about the IWM - this thread is rattling away at a rate of knots.

leahbump · 14/04/2005 21:14

sorry but I've lost interest as the lack of facts and resonable argument/ discussion has gone out the window!

everyone is entitled to personal prefernce but their opinion is not fact!

binkybetsy · 14/04/2005 21:14

Congratulations by the way Lockets!!!

bundle · 14/04/2005 21:14

gdg, around 30% of men admitted to trying their partner's breastmilk in a recent survey

morningpaper · 14/04/2005 21:14

PG: I made yoghurt from my breastmilk once... didn't get as far as cheese...

It seems really odd to me to suggest that it's appropriate for the infants of one species to move onto the milk intended for another species, when their own mother's are perfectly capable of continuing to produce milk.

marthamoo · 14/04/2005 21:15

My dh would be one of the other 70%.

Go on then, have we any of the 30% lot here?