Extended Breastfeeding?
>> 2/01/2010
Awhile ago I saw a video on t.v. about a mother who was occasionally breastfeeding her almost eight year old. As some of you may know, I am an advocate of extended breastfeeding and believe that children should decide when they want to wean...as long as it is mutually okay with mom and child. With that being said, if mom is not okay with continuing to nurse her baby, then it should be discontinued. I do not believe that a certain age or milestone (getting teeth or eating solid food) determines when children should be done breastfeeding.
*Please note that the video does contain graphic images of the mother towards the end.*
Although the relationship between the mother and her children may be a little too much for some parents, it is important to note that they (the family in the video) are mutually satisfied with the relationship. The only time that the mother discusses feeling uncomfortable is when she is dressing in the morning and her children do not give her privacy.
I am curious as to what other parents think about extended breastfeeding and at what point do you call it 'extended'? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding until at least one year of age and the World Health Organization up to two years or beyond. Leave a comment with your ideas but be respectful of other opinions/decisions.
7 comments:
Considering that the World Health Organization states that a child should be nursed for a minimum of 2 years, and the AAP for a minimum of one, I have personally always thought that anything under that period of time should be called "abbreviated nursing". I believe the term "extended nursing" connotes that it is abnormal (which, it has become in our culture, sadly, however in practically the rest of the world it is the norm).
That said, the natural average weaning age for humans is between 2 and 7 years. I am an advocate of extended nursing, however I don't believe I would be comfortable nursing until 8 years old. I am playing it by ear with DD.
Of course I don't know the whole story, but from the short interviews with the daughters in the video, the girls seem to be extremely attached to their mother's breasts and to hold them in high esteem, rather than the mother herself. It is my opinion that somewhere along the line the purpose and meaning of breastfeeding was somewhat lost, in a way because, in my opinion, breastfeeding should foster a strong bond between mother and child, not mother's breasts as separate entities.
I think 'extended' depends on your culture. In America it might be considered after 1 year, since that's generally accepted as 'okay'. Of course we can continue to try and push the normal to 2-3 :) I don't call what I do 'extended' though, I just say that we nurse til at least two.
I agree with Bekah that those girls in the video had an almost disturbing relationship with their mother's breast, not necessarily a close bond with their mother. As a nursing mother myself, I agree that our culture doesn't support it very well. Breastfeeding shouldn't be something that has to be hidden with nursing covers or special nursing rooms. We are just feeding our babies, why should we have to hide it? Once when I was getting ready to nurse my daughter at a friends' house she told me I had to leave the room since her husband was home. I respected the rules of her household, but when people come to my house, I nurse out in the open with no nursing cover. If people have a problem with it, they can leave the room. I will continue to nurse my daughter until she is ready to wean. My original plan was to wean her when she turned one. I'm now realizing that she probably won't be quite ready at that time. She will definitely be weaned before she is two.
i think whatever is most comfortable between mom & child is what should be done. there are situtations where some mothers cannot nurse until 1 or 2. I nursed until a few weeks before my daughter turned 1 when she decided she no longer wanted to nurse. I would have nursed longer, but was basically leaving it up to her.
I think that nursing a child until she is 8 is way over the top and unnecessary. I also think that we should be modest and cover up when nursing in public. Some parts of our body are not meant to be seen by the whole world, but should be saved for our husbands.
Just to clarify, I don't just whip out my boob in public while nursing. I try to cover my body with my hand or shirt. I just don't like nursing covers because my daughter doesn't want to eat in the dark. And if a nursing room is available, I'll use it. But there are times when it's occupied, and I'm not going to wait for it while my baby is crying and hungry. So I'll try to find a quiet place to go instead. I've even had to stand in a public bathroom stall in Chuck E. Cheese once. I guess I just wish it was easier to nurse in public. We may have more mother's nurse longer if public nursing was a little more accepted. It's not sexual. It's a mother feeding her baby.
I completely disagree with the previous poster who said women should cover up while nursing. Feeding my child is not a shameful act.
I don't like the term "extended" either, it makes it sound like it's "longer than what is normal," which is not true. I prefer to use "full-term breastfeeding," since infant self-weaning before 18-24 months is out of the ordinary and probably due to something else (nursing strike, etc.).
~Dionna @ Code Name: Mama
http://codenamemama.com
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