Breastfeeding toddlers

[Scout101]

There is nothing wrong with breastfeeding a toddler. It won't doom them to being pussies.

At what point does it stop being ok, though? Two? Four? School age? I mean, if it's acceptable still at 5 years, old, what changes that 6 years old is suddenly a no-no? 7? 8? College? Once they get married and have their wife's breast to replace it? There's a line somewhere, right? I had trouble falling asleep the other night, maybe a warm breastmilk nightcap would have taken the edge off?

Seems like everyone defending it has STILL picked an age where it starts being 'wrong' in their own heads, but they are coming down on anyone who picked a younger age as sexist or backwards...

Kids will wean themselves naturally. My wife and I agreed that we'd let our daughter wean herself on her own time. She stopped totally around age 5. But, before that it was really slowing down a lot, usually just once in the evening before bed.

It certainly has not harmed her.

Certainly not arguing that it's HARMFUL, just asking at what age is becomes, uh, for lack of a better word, weird.

You stated that you were going to let your daughter wean herself. What if she hadn't quit at 5, and still wanted a nightcap occasionally afterwards? You WOULD have stopped her eventually, what would have been the cutoff? Not telling me that if your high school aged daughter had the sniffles and wanted a pull off the breast, you'd have let her, health benefits or not, right? So there IS an age in your mind where it's wrong, just wondering where it is in relation to everyone else.

That's kind of what I'm asking. Why is it OK at 2 years old, but not OK at 4? Why is the 5 year old still doing it occasionally alright, but they can't have it at 7 if they still want it?

To what extent are these kids weaning themselves off of it because they can see that no one ELSE is doing it anymore? They watch parents, siblings, and friends all eating real food, at some point it's gotta seem weird that they are the only ones still bellying up to the breast for a snack, right?

They're not weaning themselves because it's no longer a benefit, they're doing it because they're smart enough to notice that it's just them, and that's kinda strange. Not really NATURE making that decision, but society...

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ I don't claim to have all the answers. I'm saying how it worked for us, and that, more generally, it almost always works out fine.

It didn't become a problem for us and that's the way it usually works out when you let them wean themselves. It usually happens around age 5 or earlier.

What I said was that they would tend to wean themselves, I never claimed that it was because the child determined that it's "no longer a benefit." Not sure where you got that from.

My point is that it works out fine in most cases so there's really no reason for anyone to be concerned about extended breastfeeding. Research has only shown benefits and no drawbacks associated with extended breastfeeding.

Oh, and at least for our daughter, your last point about them noticing is quite incorrect. She didn't wean herself because she noticed others her age weren't being breastfed. From her own perspective at that age, breastfeeding was something she did before going to bed. For all she knew, other kids her age did that. She still weaned herself just fine.

Mr Awe

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Just a side note: Trekker - you have no kids and no girlfriend. You whine constantly about your life. Why should we take your opinion as gospel when you obviously have no idea what you're talking about and can't even get your own shit together??

How about you get your shit together and jam something up your ass?

Kid - check

wife - check

Non-obsession with what others think of me - check.

Looks like I'm doing ok.

Going on line to pick on people like a heartless douche? - Check

And on that note...

Trekker already received an infraction for flaming from another mod, and Alpha Romeo receives an infraction for trolling from me for provoking the reaction in the first place.

Comments to PM.