Breastfeeding toddlers
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
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From what I've heard from mothers who breastfed toddlers (I had to give up breastfeeding mine by 3 months for various reasons) it's not so much a nutritional thing for children over a year old as a comfort thing. Mothers I know who breastfed a long time tend to follow attachment parenting, so it could be considered a (sub)cultural thing as well in some cases.
In the UK the guidance is for babies to be fed either breastmilk or formula 'til their first birthday, with solids being introduced at 6 months (it was 4 months 10 years ago, when I weaned my last child). Cow's milk, or a non-bovine substitute, should not be given to a child under the age of 1 (says she who weaned her kids at 3 months and gave them cow's milk at 10 months).
It changes all the time, which is a pain if you work on the fringes of the field. I didn't know about the not-weaning-'til-6-months thing until after I'd worked in several baby clinic sessions, so I was still telling people that the advice was to wean at 4 months. Erm, oops. That's what happens when staff are randomly thrown into sessions without proper training.
What gets me is how many intelligent parents don't trust their instincts and follow the ever-changing guidance to the letter. I weaned my older son at 3 months because he was constantly hungry, and I simply never told my health visitor.
How much of that is for the child's benefit, how much is for the mother's benefit?
This. My wife weaned my daughter by 18 months or so. She was too big, had too many teeth and was reaching into my wife's shirt all the time.
When to stop breastfeeding should be up to the mother and child and no one else. It really bothers me that some people think they have a right to butt in on such a topic and tell mothers what's "right" or proper.
I worked in Women's Health for 22 years, so I've seen breastfeeding continue long past the toddler stage quite a few times. A friend of mine who is an OB and who was the director of L&D at BMC for a while had two kids who breastfed until they were about four; his attitude was that they know when they want to stop.
Really?
I mean, you can honestly say that when you read stories about breast-fed 8 year olds you don't have any opinion on that?
Just, like, no opinion whatsoever?
I certainly have an opinion on it but it's really none of my business.
My opinion is that I couldn't care less. 
I nursed (alternating with formula) two of my kids until they were about 9 months, switched them to cow's milk at a year, and weaned them off the bottle completely when they were about 15 months. Honestly, I stopped nursing mainly because I wanted my breasts back.
Either, both.
There's got to be a point where any "benefit" of breastfeeding has to be gone. (Namely getting nutrition and antibodies from the mother.) But I would say once the kid is at the age to drink milk (cow's milk) or eating solid foods that child is past nursing age.
And, just because:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8orUaCJ0GY[/yt]
And, just because:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8orUaCJ0GY[/yt]
Why is the child past nursing if the child still enjoys nursing and finds it comforting?
I wonder if she use to put the breast milk in his cornflakes when he was a child
I've tasted it. It mostly tastes like odd tasting water. But it probably depends on what the mother has in her diet.
The child probably finds it "comforting" to sleep in the same bed as mother and father too, doesn't mean he should keep sleeping there and not learn to sleep on his own.
If the child is getting no nutritional benefit from the breast milk and can get nutrition through actual food (i.e. he has teeth and his digestive system can handle food) then breastfeeding, IMHO, is pointless. I wouldn't go as far to judge a person who continues doing it past this point but at a certain age a child is old enough to eat and drink pretty much on its own. If the child has teeth and is eating scraps of food from mommy and daddy's dinner plates then the child is too old to be breast-feeding. It's doing nothing for him that he isn't already getting from other means.
Screw it if he finds it "soothing and comforting" you've got to cut the leash at some point.
Do we stop giving children cow's milk as soon as they are eating solids and are on a regular diet? If it is OK for a 3 or 4 year old to drink cow's milk than I can see no reason why s/he can't continue to drink breast milk if s/he is willing to put in the extra effort needed to suckle from a breast.
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