In this thread from a couple of years ago, we discussed the case of an Illinois woman who breast-fed her five-year-old son, allegedly against his will, and the resulting court case.
A recent State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) article has updated the case. [sub]Sorry, no cite; the SJ-R search engine is down.[/sub] The upshot is that the mother regained custody and that the boy, now eight, continues to live with her and continues to breastfeed :eek:!!!
In thread I linked above, we learned that some cultures breastfeed until around four or five. OK. I still, however, felt that a five-year-old nursing was, and is, icky. However, to breastfeed an eight-year-old transcends icky and has, IMHO, crossed the line into incestuous.
Also, I hesitate to think of what kind of teasing the lad must endure on the playground, being eight and still suckling his mother’s boob. EEEWWWWWWWWW!!!
I think that breastfeeding is wonderful, and science has proved that infants reap lots of benefits from doing so. Breast milk provides antibodies that protect infants from disease, breastfeeding provides closeness and deep bonding with mom…breastfeeding is the way God intended things to be if possible. IMHO.
However, I admit to a bias here…if a child is old enough to ask for it, he/she is too old to be doing it. JMHO, and I have no cites to say that it is wrong. But…it just seems to me that if the child is old enough to ask for it, he/she is old enough to move toward childhood and let go of infanthood.
Breastfeeding is part of infancy. When the child emerges from infancy into childhood (as Scotticher said), it’s time to give up breastfeeding. I have no problem with people who breastfeed their children until they are toddlers. Even someone who occasionally suckles a four or five year old doesn’t bother me too much, as long as they recognize that they need to be well on the road toward weaning at that point.
But an eight year old? Would it be acceptable to still have an eight year old in diapers? For him to continue to use a pacifier? This kid is old enough to read and write, for crying out loud. It’s time to wean! It was time to wean years ago, in fact.
From everything I’ve read about this story, it seems to me like the mother doesn’t have weird sexual issues, but rather has weird control issues; i.e., she doesn’t want to let go of her son’s infancy. She isn’t doing her son any favors, particularly considering that she breastfed him on national freaking television the other day. Yeah, that’s going to do wonders for his self esteem. I mean, I obviously don’t know exactly what’s going on with the mom, but that’s what it looks like to me.
Breastfeeding is great and I am one of its most vocal advocates, but there is a natural time for it to end, and this woman obviously has not respected that fact of life.
I was reading too fast. One of the key words in the paragraph I just quoted was ‘allegations’. We know she breast-feeds the kid. We don’t know if she slept naked with him.
[sub]Well, it was a good reason to use the new smiley. I knew I’d have use for it before too long![/sub]
This kid is old enough to read and write, for crying out loud. It’s time to wean! It was time to wean years ago, in fact.
It is time for this wack job of a mother to put her tits away and get over it. Yeah breastfeeding is great. I support it whole heartedly but come on.
quote:
“I think people need to see me and see my child and realize that this is a perfectly normal practice,” said Stuckey, a single mother and part-time clerk. “We are your standard middle-class American family, and we’re not doing anything wrong.”
Bullshit. This is F’ed up.
quote:
A top breast-feeding advocate said it is not unheard of for some mothers to nurse children in private until they are as old as 10, and she does not fault Stuckey for continuing to breast-feed her son.
I am so sick of people allowing these things to go on and refuse to condemn it. I for one know that this is abso-FREAKING-lutly wrong. I use Alexandrowichz’s therom: “Any fool can see …”, and any fool can see that this is wrong. Period.
