# Breast-feeding at 8 years old in England **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911 "2008-10-21T17:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/81 "2008-10-24T19:43:39Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Knee-jerk reaction: Aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuggggh! Ew! Ew ew ew ew ew ew _ew_! > > Okay. Now that I’ve got that out of the way… > > Yep, still creepy. Way, _way_ beyond the social norm. That makes me wonder a lot about the parent-child dynamic going on. From my wholly uninformed perspective it looks like there are some _serious_ boundary issues on both sides, and those kids are not going to be normal. > > Also that’s just _gross_. Requesting to suck on a woman’s breast should be the terrain of sexual partners, not children. Sigh- from the time my DD stopped breastfeeding, I never again got to touch those things. They had changed from sexual to non-sexual in her perception, and she was never again comfortable with them being treated that way. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/82 "2008-10-24T19:46:30Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > A bit of TMI here: I breastfed my son until he was 8 months old. When he started eating solids, he was less interested in nursing, and only wanted to nurse on one side, so he was weaned. > > Unfortunately, my husband was a boob guy, and just wouldn’t stop TOUCHING them. I leaked milk when I took my shower for the next 10 years. If he hadn’t died suddenly at that point, I guess today I might be one of those lactating grandmas. You can start lactation without a pregnancy. It just takes some work. I leave you to your own googling… ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/83 "2008-10-24T23:25:28Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Requesting to suck on a woman’s breast should be the terrain of sexual partners, not children. Funny - I think you’ve got it right bass-ackwards. Boobs are for making milk. It’s not currently fashionable to breast feed your kid beyond toddler-dom, but I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/84 "2008-10-25T00:25:30Z")
I’m pulled hard in opposite directions by this. The individualist and personal-liberty advocate in me says “Well, they’re _her_ tits and they’re _her_ kids, so if she’s okay with it and the kid is okay with it, who am I to say they ought to do otherwise?” My gut reaction, on the other hand, is closer to “Ugh,\* ugh, **ugh!** \*” and I’m not even sure whether it’s directed at the mother or the child. The willful prolonging of infantile behavior just pushes the needle on my Disgust-O-Meter all the way over to **Bar-rrrf!** ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/85 "2008-10-25T00:33:08Z")
Nothing to add to the discussion, but this reminds me of a blurb I read years ago in a George Carlin book: “Medical studies show that while breastfeeding is healthy for infants, it is almost always fatal for men over 90 years old” Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/86 "2008-10-27T19:50:20Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > The willful prolonging of infantile behavior just pushes the needle on my Disgust-O-Meter all the way over to **Bar-rrrf!** I sucked my thumb until I was 12; for whatever reason it gave me comfort. I realize breastfeeding is different since it involves another person, but as I mentioned, in the case of my friend it was about comfort and bonding. Better than my parents who left me alone to cope with fears since I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/87 "2008-10-27T23:51:25Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I sucked my thumb until I was 12; for whatever reason it gave me comfort. I realize breastfeeding is different since it involves another person, but as I mentioned, in the case of my friend it was about comfort and bonding. Better than my parents who left me alone to cope with fears since I can remember. I’m thinking that if your parents hadn’t “left you alone to cope with fears” then you might not have felt the need to keep sucking your thumb for so long. That’s the red flag that’s going up with the breastfeeding 8-year-old - if he really does _need_ suckling for comfort then he somehow hasn’t been given the tools he needs to be comforted in other more age-appropriate ways. My gut feeling is that it’s more about the mother’s needs than the kid’s (the very existence of the video is my major data point here). I’ll admit to some small amount of sympathy for that at the moment - my hopefully-final-baby (at twelve months, mind you, not 8 years) seems to have decided, over the past couple of days, that he’s really pretty jack of this breastfeeding business and he’ll have the cup thanks Mum. And it is kind of sad - but not enough to push him back onto it when he’s decided that he’s ready to move on. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911/88 "2008-10-28T00:00:48Z")
I can’t watch the video now but… What this says to me is that the Mom must have some serious issues. It’s called weaning. Being a parent means preparing a child for the real world. Sure you can let your kid keep his or her “blankie” until he’s 28, but then you’d end up doing them a disservice. How does this woman ever plan on letting go when the kid gets to be 18, 21, or whatever? At some point you have to let your kid grow up. I feel that it’s the same whether it’s breastfeeding or if it were form a bottle. Ten is far to old to be drinking formula / breast milk. Regardless it’s a problem. It’s not that it’s sexual, it’s just that we have certain set times generally to wean children off of all kinds of behaviors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breast-feeding-at-8-years-old-in-england/468911.md?page=4)