Hot Topic (3/9): Extended Breastfeeding - OK or Not?

[Cafe GroupAdmin]

 

[Fibro-Mom]

WOW! I feel that this is not the right thing to do. Why would anyone want to raise their children this way. Having a close relationship with your children is a good thing, but I think that this is overstepping the boundries a little. This mother needs to leave her children grow up.

[JJTaylor]

WOW!  While I do think breastfeeding is a good thing (if you can do it), I am a little perplexed by this mothers reasoning's and explanations.  I get she thinks she is doing them a favor and keeping them close, but, I would bet you my daughter and I have just as close if not closer bond and I breast fed her for just 12 months. 

Even mothers that breastfeed their babys and toddlers that are in 3rd world countries and they do it as a survival method... they don't even breastfeed that long!  And they are choosing this method of a long time at breastfeeding because it's the only way to ensure their babies/toddlers remain somewhat healthy. 

I am going to assume these girls are home schooled?  I only say this because can you just imagine what kind of ridicule these girls would have to deal with if they were in a school and talked about this... regardless if what they say to them is normal...

To each their own, I just find this odd, and question this mothers true reasoning for doing/allowing this.  It sounds like the 7 year old doesn't and won't stop w/o a fight from her mother...

[hsteele]

I can understand that children need to decide for themselves when to stop breastfeeding. Fortunately for myself, my daughter fizzeled out on her own by the time she was one. I know there are many women in Europe who breastfeed until age 5. But I think by age 8, if the child still has the desire to breastfeed there is some kind of issue. Why does she need this particular form of comfort? Couldn't the mother have tried weening her off at a certain point? I mean even animals realize there is a point at which the child needs to detach itself from the mother and began the process of maturing. I find an 8 year old breastfeeding a little odd. The fact that its her youngest could mean that the mother herself has an attachment to it and doesn't want to grasp that her child is maturing. She may be encouraging it. In this culture especially that child may now face criticism for still breastfeeding. I don't know what that mother was thinking by going on television about it. This could also cause serious issues mentally when the child gets older. But these are all assumptions and the girl could be perfectly fine and turn out better adjusted than those children forced off the breast too early or not breastfed at all.

BTW it is rare that a mother is unable to breastfeed. There may be challenges such as the shape of the nipple, but that can be fixed with a nipple sheild. In addition, working mothers always have the option of pumping. Allergies to breastmilk itself are rare, and may be the result of what the mother eats, and a diet change could help. Disease may also be an issue. But like I said, in most cases, if the mother is educated and has support of a lactation consultant, it is rare that she won't be able to breastfeed.

[MyMayBaby_Chloe]

While I agree with what you said here, I feel I must make one comment. It truly is not that rare that a mother is unable to breast feed. I myself tried and tried until I was bleeding and bleeding. I did everything the lactation consultant showed me and told me, I read all the books, tried pumping, etc. Trust me I did everything I could. Come to find out the reason why I was unable to breastfeed was because I have Fibrocystic Breast Disease and had my daughter been able to breastfeed she would have only gotten pus. I felt like the worst mother in the world for a VERY long time because I was unable to breastfeed my daughter....something that should come so natural for a woman and I could not do it. Then when I found out about the FBD it kind of relieved those feelings I had and to tell you the truth I was very happy THEN that I could not breastfeed her because I couldn't imagine her getting pus instead of breast milk. (not attacking you...just stating my opinion)

Quoting hsteele:

I can understand that children need to decide for themselves when to stop breastfeeding. Fortunately for myself, my daughter fizzeled out on her own by the time she was one. I know there are many women in Europe who breastfeed until age 5. But I think by age 8, if the child still has the desire to breastfeed there is some kind of issue. Why does she need this particular form of comfort? Couldn't the mother have tried weening her off at a certain point? I mean even animals realize there is a point at which the child needs to detach itself from the mother and began the process of maturing. I find an 8 year old breastfeeding a little odd. The fact that its her youngest could mean that the mother herself has an attachment to it and doesn't want to grasp that her child is maturing. She may be encouraging it. In this culture especially that child may now face criticism for still breastfeeding. I don't know what that mother was thinking by going on television about it. This could also cause serious issues mentally when the child gets older. But these are all assumptions and the girl could be perfectly fine and turn out better adjusted than those children forced off the breast too early or not breastfed at all.

BTW it is rare that a mother is unable to breastfeed. There may be challenges such as the shape of the nipple, but that can be fixed with a nipple sheild. In addition, working mothers always have the option of pumping. Allergies to breastmilk itself are rare, and may be the result of what the mother eats, and a diet change could help. Disease may also be an issue. But like I said, in most cases, if the mother is educated and has support of a lactation consultant, it is rare that she won't be able to breastfeed.

[Brandie_xo]

This is a REALLY old video, and ive seen it surface on this site about 6 times in the past week.

with that said.

i think what she is doing is border line sexual abuse.  You want to have a strong bond with your child? okay. there are other ways to do it. You want them to have the benefits of breastmilk? okay. put it in a cup.

You get so many people saying that they dont need bottles after a year, but its okay to still be sucking on mommys boobs at 8? well then what about 10? or 12?

I'm convinced that child is going to have a whole bunch of sexual hang ups when she's older.

And what if it was a boy, not a girl?  What if you have this second of thrid grade little boy who lets everyone know that he still sucks on mommy's boobies? is that as equally as acceptable as the little girl doing it?

bottom line- If you are still breastfeeding at 8 yeards old, thats for the mothers comfort, and she has some issues she needs addressed.

[IhartU]

Quoting Brandie_xo:

This is a REALLY old video, and ive seen it surface on this site about 6 times in the past week.

with that said.

i think what she is doing is border line sexual abuse.  You want to have a strong bond with your child? okay. there are other ways to do it. You want them to have the benefits of breastmilk? okay. put it in a cup.

You get so many people saying that they dont need bottles after a year, but its okay to still be sucking on mommys boobs at 8? well then what about 10? or 12?

I'm convinced that child is going to have a whole bunch of sexual hang ups when she's older.

And what if it was a boy, not a girl?  What if you have this second of thrid grade little boy who lets everyone know that he still sucks on mommy's boobies? is that as equally as acceptable as the little girl doing it?

 

bottom line- If you are still breastfeeding at 8 yeards old, thats for the mothers comfort, and she has some issues she needs addressed.

[tiggerrrt]

This is wrong on so many levels...

I see older children (3+) with bottles and older children breast feeding and can't help but think its Mom not wanting to allow their 'babies' to grow up and be children.....there comes a time when you need to allow your children to get their nutrition from other food sources...

[CosmicMomma]

We had a friend who breastfed her kids until they were 5 and we joked that she was going to snack w/them when they started Kindergarten.  It was abit strange to see a child's feet dragging the ground when he sat on her lap to nurse.  Yeah, that may be acceptable in other countries but in America "we joke you."  LOL  Oh don't get all sensitive and rant about that but hey, the facts are what the facts are. :)  I don't think it's child abuse, it's totally not meant that way but it can become more about the Mom than the child, I believe.  I nursed my youngest at bedtime only until she was 2 and my older kids gave me a hard time, in a funny way.  So I started letting my husband put her to bed and she was fine, never missed me at all.  I was surprised and thought "Man I could have stopped this sooner.  Go figure."  Children just do what they do and sometimes we have to take the initiative to stop a behavior.   So as in my case, it's just ignorance.  You figure the child will let you know, but sometimes they don't.  But hey, this is the one I carried around for year because she screamed every time I put her down.  Hummmmm.....makes me think. "Oh,Man!"

[chattymama92]

Quoting Brandie_xo:

This is a REALLY old video, and ive seen it surface on this site about 6 times in the past week.

with that said.

i think what she is doing is border line sexual abuse.  You want to have a strong bond with your child? okay. there are other ways to do it. You want them to have the benefits of breastmilk? okay. put it in a cup.

You get so many people saying that they dont need bottles after a year, but its okay to still be sucking on mommys boobs at 8? well then what about 10? or 12?

I'm convinced that child is going to have a whole bunch of sexual hang ups when she's older.

And what if it was a boy, not a girl?  What if you have this second of thrid grade little boy who lets everyone know that he still sucks on mommy's boobies? is that as equally as acceptable as the little girl doing it?

 

bottom line- If you are still breastfeeding at 8 yeards old, thats for the mothers comfort, and she has some issues she needs addressed.

I agree!

[jzsgrandma]

  Breastfeeding is the best thing that you can do for your baby. I realize that some mothers cant, but I am always sad to see a bottle in a infants mouth. However this woman and her children's preoccupation with breast milk turned my stomach. 8yr. olds draw pictures of horses and flowers, not their mothers breasts! Women who have a need to feed babies with their breast milk can sell or donate it to the babies who's mother cant produce it.