20/20 to air segment about "Extreme Nursing" - Page 3

[columbusmomma]

Will be watching shortly....and surfing mdc during commericials!

[TearyCloud]

Originally Posted by Toolip

is it on tonight?

Yep, 10pm EST

[KBinSATX]

I'll try to get at least one of the LOs to sleep by then so I can watch...

[MadameXCupcake]

That little boy is so cute! I have never seen anyone irl nurse a child that old and my daughter is only 9 months but it didn't seem weird at all infact it was really cute.

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

watching.... abc is one of the 5 channels we DO get

football is on 3 of the others

[ShwarmaQueen]

I'm watching it right now. They always gotta throw the most extreme scenarios in there (the 8 yo) to make their point- and it's pretty obvious by the tone/pitch of the journalist voice that she's totally disgusted by CLW.

[KristyDi]

Well I just finished watching it and it wasn't too bad.

The psychologist sounded like Joe Blow off the street who's done no research and is parroting what "everyone knows" about extended BF. I thought it was kinda funny that he talked about "mom's job being to work herself out of a job" as if the English mom was going to keep bfing forever right after they said that the 8 year old has self weaned. Sounds to me like mom did work herself out of bfing. He seemed to be implying that if mom didn't get on the ball and stop her DD from nursing then it would never end and obviously that wasn't the case.

[Mountaingirl79]

I agree..

I liked the HB part. I thought the journalist rolled her eyes a bit during the breast feeding segment, she could have at least tried to act unbiased, yk?

The dolls.....kinda creepy, imo. They were cute though.

[VeganMamaRed]

I just got finished watching the 20/20 featuring Extreme Nursing. I thought it was fairly well done, although there were points where I felt like the interviewer (Debra Roberts????) was fighting back a grimace. I found it a little amusing that the first woman they had on the "extreme nursing" show was a woman nursing 2 1/2 year old twins. Maybe I've been hanging around MDC too long but a 2 1/2 nursing is almost a given to me and in no way seems unusual or "extreme". I am sometimes surprised when I see weaned 2 year olds because that is so not MY normal, kwim?

I really liked the family with the three kids, they just seemed very normal. I was VERY surprised to see that the 12 year old boy was willing to talk about when he used to nurse and was free and open about how much he liked it. He seemed like such a sweet kid. I hope he doesn't get his butt handed to him by his peers........

I also liked the 9 year old sister who said that seeing her six year old brother nursing made her happy to see him doing it. Very sweet.

[xtara2003x]

I too was a little confused on why the nursing twin 2.5 year olds was "extreme". My DD is 20 months old...and I'm positive if I had two they'd both be nursing as well. Is it just extreme because there is two of them...or is it the age?? I don't get it...

Overall I wasn't horribly as dissapointed as I thought I'd be. I too didn't like the fact that they didn't discuss the difference between unassisted child birth at home vs. a homebirth with a certified (or experienced) midwife. For me...an unassisted would not be an option because that is just not comfortable to ME at this point in my life. My friend had an unassisted and LOVED IT and would never go back to having a midwife around...and it was her 5th child. Two were hospital births, two were homebirths with midwives and her last was unassisted. My first and only birth was in a hospital birthing labor and delivery room with a certified nurse midwife....and it was an overall great experience..but I am looking forward to having a homebirth with the next baby.

Anyway.....aside from a few wincing episodes...it was fairly decent in my opinion!

[marcitrix]

I have to agree that the pyschologist sounded a funny saying that a moms job is to work herself out of a job... Do you ever stop being a mother?? And saying that a child needs to learn how to soothe themself? I just think of the parents I know that hand their kids a snack for distraction when they are upset, far better to nurse them through it then turn them into emotional eaters.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by KristyDi

I thought it was kinda funny that he talked about "mom's job being to work herself out of a job" as if the English mom was going to keep bfing forever right after they said that the 8 year old has self weaned.

As if babies will not grow up unless the mom is actively pushing them...

his comments were really unnecessary and didn't add anything useful.


The woman interviewing the 5 year old seemed a little uncomfortable when she first started taking to him.

I thought she could have come up with a better question then, "so... what do you say when you want some... cuddle time [gesturing at her breasts]... with your mom?"

[SpiderMum]

Originally Posted by marcitrix

I have to agree that the pyschologist sounded a funny saying that a moms job is to work herself out of a job... Do you ever stop being a mother?? And saying that a child needs to learn how to soothe themself? I just think of the parents I know that hand their kids a snack for distraction when they are upset, far better to nurse them through it then turn them into emotional eaters.

I'm an adult, but my mother is still my mother....and occasionally I go to her for comfort when life is hard. As does my sister who is in her 40's! A mother's job changes and evolves over the years...but it never ENDS.

I think it's pretty easy to dig up and "expert" who wouldn't appreciate "extended" nursing. Experts often like their own personal bias get in the way of truth.

I didn't like this report at all. And the bit with the 2 and a half year olds?! WTF?! They're little babies still!

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by SpiderMum

I'm an adult, but my mother is still my mother....and occasionally I go to her for comfort when life is hard. As does my sister who is in her 40's! A mother's job changes and evolves over the years...but it never ENDS.

I think it's pretty easy to dig up and "expert" who wouldn't appreciate "extended" nursing. Experts often like their own personal bias get in the way of truth.

I didn't like this report at all. And the bit with the 2 and a half year olds?! WTF?! They're little babies still!

yes, yes, and yes

[erikaa]

when the special started and they were doing their previews to the stories, i turned to my husband and said, i think they are going to make me really mad!
but i was pleasantly surprised.
Yes, there were things that I wish they had done differently, but i expected it all to be about "shocking" people. I felt like they did a fair job of introducing the concepts to people who might not have ever heard of such things.
The segments are only minutes long, there is only so much they can squeeze in. It would have been really cool if they had a show on each topic, maybe minus the doll segment.

[Lisa85]

What was the doll segment? I think I missed that part?

I thought it was pretty poorly done from what the standpoint of what they were trying to do. I would hope that any mainstream person could easily see that they were trying to make something out of nothing. You really can't argue with "This is how I prefer to do it, and within my comfort zone. I'm not pushing anybody else to do the same." said by 6 yo Tiernan's mom. I loved how the mom's weren't made out to be some sort of weirdo that also does this weird extended nursing thing. Like how the mom of the three kids lived in the suburbs, had a normal looking family, etc, etc. Whereas I remember the full segment on the English family they were just made out to be looneys in every aspect of their lives.

I think no matter how you present it, the 8 yo nursing is just going to seem strange to pretty much everyone except us.

I'm glad nobody tried to bring up the sexual aspect other than the moms' marriages. I didn't get to see all of it, but I never heard anybody try to directly bring up that it was for mom's sexual pleasure, just that she might have a hard time being 'wife' instead of just 'mom' in the bedroom.

I loved how all the kids seemed a little thrown off by the questions. They were pretty much all like "Why are you asking me this question, doesn't everybody already know this?" Nursing into early childhood is just the norm to them and I loved that.

My husband got to see part of it tooo and I'm glad. He's made asked questions to me about when I think I'm going to stop and I just say "I don't know." because, well I don't. He heard the news reporter say that that world weaning average was 4 so I think now that's put everything in a whole new perspective. He would never tell me to stop so at least I have that behind me, but I'm glad he thinks of it as a little more normal now - completely opposite of what the show tried to do.

I think Rikki Lake completely cracked their "homebirth is weird" thing. Most people know who she is and being a celebrity automatically takes out some of the weirdness (well, unless you're Tom Cruise). Like "Oh, I thought that was kinda strange, but Rikki Lake does it and she has enough money to birth wherever she wants to so it can't be all that bad." I hated how they tried to make UC and HB with a MW the same thing. As if a MW isn't a medical professional:

[TearyCloud]

Originally Posted by erikaa

when the special started and they were doing their previews to the stories, i turned to my husband and said, i think they are going to make me really mad!
but i was pleasantly surprised.
Yes, there were things that I wish they had done differently, but i expected it all to be about "shocking" people. I felt like they did a fair job of introducing the concepts to people who might not have ever heard of such things.
The segments are only minutes long, there is only so much they can squeeze in. It would have been really cool if they had a show on each topic, maybe minus the doll segment.

I felt the same as you when it came on. As soon as John Stossel started talking, I thought oh god, this will be bad. I was surprised it wasn't portrayed in a very negative light. I kind of wished they hadn't shown that family nursing the 8 year old because I've seen them before and that family is weird even without the older nursling. I think they aren't the best representation of extended bf. I missed the HB part, though. The dolls freaked me out.

I thought it was SO cute when the little boy said "there's more milk in this one" and then pointed to his left breast. Awww!

[SunnieP]

i just wanted to give a shout out to everyone whom is brave enough to nurse their older ones in public......changing culture is about as easy as moving the earth and at lease 20/20 brought up the subject. i bet people watched that and had never thought about any of that.....
btw- as soon as i started mentioning to people that i was nursing my 2 yr old the mom's whom had extended nursed came out of the woodwork!!!! 7years old was the oldest that confided in me and she is awesome.

[TearyCloud]

I'm kind of glad they had that shrink on there saying that nursing for a long time "May" cause harm. He seemed young and inexperienced and had no research to back up what he was saying. He kept saying "I think" and "I believe" as opposed to the pro-bf doctors and mamas who had actual facts and experience. I almost wonder if they had a hard time finding a doc to come out so against it, because that guy seemed really clueless and like he had a personal, not professional, issue with it.

[jen&james]

I loved the part on birth. It is such a beautiful wonderful thing that so many are missing out on. I just wish they didn't group the birth, and extended nursing with the "doll freak show".