What age did you all stop breastfeeding?

[flawless29]

To all breastfeeding mamas, I have a 7-month-old and I'm just curious: at what age do most of you stop breastfeeding? I realize everyone's journey is unique, which is exactly why I'm reaching out. How long do you think we should breastfeed to give our little ones the best start? Thanks!

Others on this thread also think it’s weird to feed 7 year olds too

6-7 months. I was going back to work and I travelled frequently.

Sure. Because it's cultural to see female breasts as sexual opposed to what they actually are which are for which is nursing babies. In a society that sees women's breasts as sex organs and where breastfeeding rates are low and women are encouraged to cover up when feeding in public it's not unusual or odd that you hold the opinion you do, however you opinion ignores biological fact and is odd really when you consider our natural species.

But it's not off socially, which is why I couldn't give two hoots whether you even feed breast milk at all, so why put down other mothers for choosing something different to you, when they are still completely within the range of what is natural for our species?

I am constantly baffled on Mumsnet as to why people care so much about what other families do in their own home. It’s not harming anyone, it’s just a different approach to the one you have. It’s pretty immature to brand something as “weird” just because it’s different to what you choose to do.

I think you’re being a bit wilfully obtuse. Hardly anyone in the U.K. breastfeeds that long, but the point is that it is biologically normal and advantageous, and that whatever your own personal view may be you can’t arbitrarily decide that breastfeeding up to X days/weeks/months/years is fine but beyond that point is not.

This page includes references to studies showing the benefits of breastfeeding beyond infancy. Unfortunately there aren't that many studies on it because society already suggests women are odd for choosing to feed longer than 2 years so it is harder to study. But the crucial thing is that there are no studies that conclude it is harmful to continue breastfeeding.

Let's remember if its something you choose not to do it doesn't mean that others shouldn't do it. Like lots of other parenting decisions we all do what is right for our own families.

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/ebf-benefits/

https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/about/breastfeeding-in-the-uk/
The last UK-wide Infant Feeding Survey was conducted in 2010, and we are calling on UK governments to reinstate this. Key findings were:

• Breastfeeding initiation: 81% (up from 76% in 2005)
• Exclusive breastfeeding at six weeks was 24% in England compared to 17% in Wales and 13% in Northern Ireland – see below for more recent survey results from Scotland
• Exclusive breastfeeding at three months: 17% (up from 13% in 2005)
• Exclusive breastfeeding at four months: 12% (up from 7% in 2005)
• Exclusive breastfeeding at six months (as recommended by the World Health Organization) remained at around 1%
• The rate of any breastfeeding at six weeks was 55% (rising from 48% in 2005), while at six months it was 34% (rising from 25% in 2005).

https://anya.health/breastfeeding-uk/#:~:text=Only%201%20in%20200%20UK,breastfeeding%20before%20they%20want%20to.
Only 1 in 200 UK women do any breastfeeding after a year, that is a very low 0.5%. In Germany, 23% of women still breastfeed after a year, 27% in the USA and 56% in Brazil. It’s sad to read that 90% of women from the UK stop breastfeeding before they want to.

If only 0.5% are making it past 12 months I can't see any statically significant numbers making it to 7 - the extreme outlier for bf in UK.

Why are you advising the OP to stop breastfeeding at only 7 months when the advice is 2 years or longer?

Other animals do not feed their young once they are old enough to either graze or eat flesh.

There is a reason why it's taboo to breastfeed a school age child. It's not the norm and it's done for the benefit of the mother, not for nutrition.

Other animals do not feed their young once they are old enough to either graze or eat flesh.

Yes they do, weaning is a process. Mammals continue to feed from their mothers after beginning to eat solid food. Chimpanzees wean at 4 to 5 years, which is after eruption of permanent molars (which humans get at about 6).

Exactly!

You never see people up in arms about the fact that foals, lambs, kittens and puppies aren’t having formula instead of their mother’s milk 😂

Its only when it comes to human infants having human milk that nursing becomes an issue…

Animals eat their young. Weird thing to compare with.

What a load of bollocks.

You do realise that humans are the only animals where offspring are born prematurely due to the size of their heads? That makes a huge difference to weaning age. If human babies didn’t have such huge heads they would be born much later when already mobile and able to eat solids much sooner.

To be comparable to other species human gestation should be much longer, more like 21 months rather than 9.

All that education and still can't understand that other people can have different opinions and that "that's it. End of." Isn't really appropriate etiquette in any debate forum online or otherwise...

There are other reasons why someone might breastfeed longer for example helping a child with additional needs emotionally regulate until they've other skills to be able to do that independently of breast feeding. I think it's up to each mother to identify what's best for her child. Plus not all children are great eaters, some can be incredibly fussy and sensitive to solids.

The quality and length of sleep in babies is usually driven by the fact they're biologically programmed to feel safest when close to their mum. By putting small babies in separate rooms and expecting them to sleep through the night we're asking them to do something that really they aren't designed to do. Partly why dummies are used in place of nipples, partly why dummies therefore reduce the risk of SIDS as does safely set up co sleeping. So actually it's all driven by need for a boob at that age biologically speaking.

@2pence exactly 👌🏻

@gamerchick its weirder to compare us to animals. It’s not remotely comparable.

Anything over 18 months is just plain weird tbh.

It would be rare to see it past two as older toddlers would be more likely to nurse upon waking or at bedtime. They don't nurse at the school or nursery gate.

The only thing I find weird is for some one to have such strong opinions for what another mum does with her own child when it's something as natural as simply breastfeeding them, not causing any harm etc. Like another poster said

I'm not a huge fan of breastfeeding my daughter but I'm grateful I've been able to smoothly with no major issues, she's 9 months now and I'll continue to at least one year as I don't see the point now to change to formula, she has taken to blw really well and is a great eater of her solids. But milk should still be the main source of nutrition up to one year (bf or formula). I hope after one year she'll cut down to morning and bedtime, but that's for my own reasons not hers, so we'll see :)

Not really.

Why? Explain what's so weird about it. It isn't weird that we drink a different species' milk though, huh? No wonder we have one of the worst rates for breastfeeding in the UK. Mothers have such poor support and such nasty judgement. Is it mostly from mother's that struggled to establish breastfeeding themselves, I wonder.

You do realise we are animals, right?