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Monday, May 10, 2004
extended breastfeeding - 07:34 AM
i got too tired to continue writing in my recent diary entry about my uncle's 50th birthday party, which my cousin, beck, organised. i started out writing this as a blog entry, but it was getting a bit long, so i've tuirned it into a diary entry, instead.
there was a big family bust up about ten years ago (which i won't go into here. it's a long story & probably not my business to tell on a public blog) so i hadn't seen most of the family there for a number of years. however, all was pretty good, in fact, it was a bit of a healing time.
i discovered that that side of the family are into extended breastfeeding. one aunty didn't wean her youngest girl (of six children!) until she was three & a half. another is still breastfeeding her youngest boy at two & a half. he's actually a very tall two & a half year old, so in this day & age where a lot of mums don't breastfeed longer than six months, it looked quite odd with his tall body curled up on her lap, feeding away, peeking at everyone around him, as babes do when they're feeding. well, to some it looked odd, i suppose, but i thought it was lovely.
anyway, i was pleased to see how much they were into it. they all asked me if i was still breastfeeding riley (whom many had only just met that night) & i was very happy to say that i am, although for me, with him at only eight months old, i wouldn't even consider stopping yet. i don't plan to wean him until we're both ready & i hope that isn't until at least two years old.
shroom still thinks that breastfeeding beyond two is a bit weird, but i suspect that if riley wants to continue breastfeeding for longer, that it won't seem so strange to him, as he'll observe day by day that it's a perfectly healthy & normal thing to do & that there's nothing weird (or sick, as some people seem to think) about it.
here's to a long & happy breastfeeding relationship with my baby boy! 
It's nice that you found people in your family that have the same values that you do about breastfeeding.
Now that Hayden is almost 18 months old I'm starting to get looks and comments about "oh you're still breastfeeding" with an unsaid "why? and you should stop".
I'm reluctant to even call it extended breastfeeding, though in our cultures feeding beyond 6-12 months has become "extended", which I think is sad. The WHO recommend breastfeeding until 2 years of age. I say if I've got the WHO backing me then I'm doing something right!
I agree very much with what Angie wrote above ... our culture's idea that "extended" breastfeeding is beyond 6 months is just silly. Alia is 9 months old now and I wouldn't dream of trying to fully wean her yet. And I have noticed I am starting to get looks and the occasional comment about it already. I have day-weaned her to expressed-milk bottles (for her 11am and 3pm milk) because I am going back to work part-time next week and need her to be able to have her milk for Nana on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But her early morning, bedtime and dreamfeeds are all still straight from the source. I don't intend to wean her fully until I am pregnant with my next bub, hopefully when Alia's about 2 (which some people tell me is the easiest time to do it anyway, as the milk changes taste and often the child rejects the breast of their own accord).
Good on you! My sister was breastfeeding her twins until they were nearly 3. It really makes me angry when people say things like how gross that is, or when people get antsy about Mums breastfeeding in public. To me they are sexualising something that is completely non sexual, and I feel like punching them in the nose for being so stupid....
I've actually heard that according to the World Health Organisation the average age children are breastfed to, worldwide, is 5 years old. Maybe someone can confirm it for me, because I heard it second hand....
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Agreed! But Smiley will 'spit youout' when HE is good and ready too you know, one night my son just didn't want to feed, not the next night, not ever after, happened quiet suddendly. My youngest, on the other hand, I was desperate to get off me, as he was still looking for a feed at 31/2!!! I was imagining standing there a the wire fence at kindy, squeezing myself through the wire to feed him! ack! Fortunately, he stopped before Kindy, but only just. We still kid him about it everynow and then! roflmao!