Breast-feeding at 8 years old in England

In My Humble Opinion
1

Video of story. (Includes some footage of an eight-year old child breastfeeding.) I just watched this with very mixed feelings. The older girl breastfed until five, and the younger one is still breastfeeding at nearly eight. I know this isn’t normal, but is there any particular reason that people shouldn’t breastfeed their children beyond babyhood? I mean, other than what I can only imagine would be horrible teasing at school. I think part of what I didn’t like about the video was the way the mother said that her daughters think of her breasts as belonging to them. I dunno; I’m not a mom. Maybe moms like their children thinking of their mother’s body as belonging to them.

What do all y’all think?

2

Can’t watch the video at work but I think it’s a little creepy.

[steadies himself for onslaught from the pro-breastfeed-until-puberty crowd]

3

Isn’t there a certain time after pregnancy when the mother’s body stops producing milk?

checks Wikipedia, which doesn’t have an answer No, seriously. How is this possible? :confused:

4

Nope, your body will continue to produce milk as long as someone or something is suckling. :slight_smile:

I am a mother and I would hate for my child to think of anything on my body as belonging to them.

5

Huh. Ignorance fought. Many thanks!

6

IMAO, the mother quits breastfeeding once the tricycle motor gets teeth.

7

Here’s a story from 2002, which discusses a study:

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/parenting/07/10/breast.fed.controversy.otsc/index.html

8

Teeth never bothered me too much…my kids never tended to bite down at all while nursing.

The thing I think is weird about this is that there has to be a cutoff sometime, right? I mean, is the kid going to be doing this when she’s 12? 16? 25? Call me crazy, but I think entering grammar school is as good a time as any.

9

Worse than that I think was the part about how her daughters love and adore everything about her breasts, despite the stretch marks, sagging, etc. That seems weird to me.

Late breastfeeding (totally arbitrarily, I would define this as around age 2) creeps me out.

10

I started a thread about a similar subject MANY years ago - a woman in Champaign, IL was breastfeeding her five-year-old. Then a follow-up thread a few years later, when she was breast-feeding the same kid, now 8.

:eek:

Whether it goes on in the US or in England or in Lower Bumfukia, I still feel the same way about it: :eek:.

When they’re old enough to ask for it, it’s long since past time to stop.

11

This. I don’t even like seeing any baby over 1 with a pacifier. Not a fan, in general, actually.

12

I’m not the type to breastfeed, personally.

The point about the teeth is not chomping down on mom, rather they have the equipment to absolutely be eating solid food.

13

Oh, I can just tell this will not go well. It never does.

14

:slight_smile:

Oh, I see what you’re saying. I guess I wasn’t thinking of it that way, because teeth come in so gradually, and often solid food & breastfeeding overlap quite a bit (even if you are only nursing for a year, you are going to be giving them food in addition).

15

I don’t know; I wrote my OP in a way that would hopefully encourage some discussion, not just kneejerkery.

16

I have to wonder whose needs are being met in this case

17

I have a hard time believing even the most die-hard breastfeeding advocate would support the fact that an 8 year old is still nursing.
2 year old? Fine - no problem.
8 year old? Bleargh.

I nursed my daughter exclusively til 6 months, then added solids. She decided on her own she was done at 9 months. Now that she’s two, I can’t even imagine trying to breastfeed her. (okay, part of that is because she bites when she’s angry. Even been bitten in the butt by a toddler? It’s funny when it isn’t infuriating)

18

Okay I have some questions:

  1. Does this kid have any sense that this is weird, based on what her friends are doing or saying?

  2. Wouldn’t this hamper the kid’s sense of independence? Or is that the point?

19

I opened this thread unsure whether the eight-year-old would be consuming or providing the milk.

20

Yeah. Actually, I came in assuming it was the latter and was wondering if this was similar to that story about the world’s youngest mother…
ETA: At this point, is it just for intimacy? I mean, there can’t really be all that much nutritional value from breast milk when you’re eight and can consume anything you need on your own. I do know a lot of mothers say they do it past a certain age just for the feeling of closeness, but it seems like you can be close to your kids in other ways when they’re eight.