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No one is criticizing extended breastfeeding, which by the way is classified as breastfeeding beyond a year.
Yes, they are. Plenty of people have criticized any breastfeeding over the age of 2.
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So if it's not for the emotional satisfaction of the mother as everyone vehemently denies, what explanation could there be, other than the fact that weaning just has not happened? .
You guessed right. It's because weaning just has not happened yet. If you read the article posted by the OP, maybe it will make more sense.
And at six, no, it's not normal. It isn't normal, or usual, or common, for a 6-year-old to be nursing, and it is especially not normal, or usual, or common for a 6-year-old with a new baby sibling to tandem nurse his mother along with his baby sibling. It isn't normal, or common, or usual. It is even more abnormal, uncommon, and unusual, for anyone to think it is normal, common, or unusual. Just _believing it is normal, common, or usual_ is abnormal.
And at six, no, it's not normal. It isn't normal, or usual, or common, for a 6-year-old to be nursing, and it is especially not normal, or usual, or common for a 6-year-old with a new baby sibling to tandem nurse his mother along with his baby sibling. It isn't normal, or common, or usual. It is even more abnormal, uncommon, and unusual, for anyone to think it is normal, common, or unusual. Just _believing it is normal, common, or usual_ is abnormal.
Just because something is outside the mainstream or unusual, doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. Some kids walk at 9 months, others at 18 months. Some are even outside that range. And some kids wean at 18 months and others at 4 years, but yes there are also those who are still nursing at 6. I never said it was common, but I don't think it's a problem either. My kid is under 3% on the growth charts. That means that over 97% of kids her age are bigger than her. But that doesn't mean there's something wrong, she's just small. Someone has to be on the far ends of the bell curve - we can't all be 50 percentile. A kid who is nursing at 6 years is on the high end of the curve - he's not 50 percentile, and I don't think anyone was claiming he was. But I don't believe he's way off the charts either, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
Yes, they are. Plenty of people have criticized any breastfeeding over the age of 2. You guessed right. It's because weaning just has not happened yet. If you read the article posted by the OP, maybe it will make more sense.
I did read the article. I have not seen people criticizing breastfeeding over 2 per se, but I have seen people questioning the reasons. Yes of course everyone has a right to parent as they wish, but I still have not heard a convincing reason for breastfeeding a 6 year old.
I did read the article. I have not seen people criticizing breastfeeding over 2 per se, but I have seen people questioning the reasons. Yes of course everyone has a right to parent as they wish, but I still have not heard a convincing reason for breastfeeding a 6 year old.
Here's just a few comments from the thread regarding nursing past the age of two. Call them questions if you like but I consider many of the comments to be assumptions, criticisms, and judgements.
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While I would condsider myself a HUGE advocate for nursing, I also realize that there is a point when it should stop and I believe that to be around age 2.
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WHY do you breastfeed over the age of 2? There is very little to no nutritional value to a child past that point. And treating a child who has grown out of toddlerhood like such a baby would seem to me to stunt their emotional growth.
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And I've got to say, when mothers choose to breastfeed past the age of 2 they are doing it for themselves, even though most will try to argue "it's for the child"
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It is not the norm in most industrialized cultures to breastfeed past 2 years of age. IT IS NOT NORMAL - in MOST industrialized cultures. Not normal. Just not.
As for the article, the mother had almost weaned the boy when he was 3 but he picked up his nursing again when the baby was born and now nurses once a day and is decreasing the amount all of the time which is a sign of weaning. What he is doing is considered normal from a biological perspective.
Years ago I was in a mall with my grandmother and dad. There in the play area was a mother nursing her toddler who looked to be about 3. My grandmother, who was about 80 at the time, said something to my dad in German under her breath. This was one conservative woman so I assumed it was something about the fact that the woman was nursing in public. I didn't quite catch it so I asked my dad what she said.
He laughed. "She said, 'Even the cow kicks away the calf.'"
I addressed the "normal from a biological perspective" thing already. It is normal from a biological perspective for girls to start having sex shortly after their first menstrual cycle. Biologically, this is natural, correct, and should be promoted. If you're going after what is biologically normal. Waiting for love, waiting for emotional maturity, waiting for anything other than the primal physical need to mate and breed, is not biologically normal. And yet, in civilized society, that is exactly what we do. We wait. And waiting, in civilized society, is normal.
Just like breastfeeding a 6-year old on one breast with an infant on the other breast, is not normal, in civilized society, and you should EXPECT that people will raise an eyebrow, make comments, question your judgment, when you announce publically on a public bulletin board that you practice this particular set of behaviors. You shouldn't be wondering why people react that way. You shouldn't be surprised by it. Because the reaction is just as normal, as it is normal for people to wean their children off their breast at some point around the age of two.
I was not criticizing as much as questioning., because I truly do not get it. Hey they are your kids, do with them as you choose but if any of you send a kindergartner or beyond to school thinking it is okay to say to everyone he still breastfeeds? You are some cold ass parents because you just set him up for a lifetime of ridicule.
Oh, and as far as an inferiority complex? Ummm..no. Considering the incredible men my kids have become as adults I am perfectly content with how I parented.
I was not criticizing as much as questioning., because I truly do not get it. Hey they are your kids, do with them as you choose but if any of you send a kindergartner or beyond to school thinking it is okay to say to everyone he still breastfeeds? You are some cold ass parents because you just set him up for a lifetime of ridicule.
Oh, and as far as an inferiority complex? Ummm..no. Considering the incredible men my kids have become as adults I am perfectly content with how I parented.
Leavingmassachusetts, I didn't say you had an inferiority complex. I said that the behavior you described by breastfeeding mothers was not a superiority complex. It is an inferiority complex.
Superiority complex is when you really believe that you are superior to others but don't have the need to prove it. You may have a negative view of them but they don't really care.
Inferiority complex is when you feel inferior and always have to defend your choices and prove that the other person is wrong until they see your way.
This is different than somebody just trying to challenge misinformation.
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