Grown up's who were clw?

[sarajane]

I was wondering if there is anyone here who was child led weaned when they were young? I am wondering the effects it has or doesn't have on a child as they age. Are the effects differnent in boys versus girls? Is there anyone who can help me out with these questions?

How old were you when you stopped nursing?
Do you remember it well?
Has it affected you in a good or bad way?
Emotionally?
Physically?

If nobody here has any personal experience do you know of any studies done on this? Where can I find them?

Thanks in advance! Appreciate it.

[loving-my-babies]

Not me, but my dad was CLW. he was 6 years old and remembers it very well.. he tells me about climbing onto his mother's lap and nursing when he came home from school he was also incredibly close to his mother. I never got to meet her because she died about 7 years before I was born.

[leafwood]

Again, no first hand experiences to tell, but my younger brother was CLW at age 18 months. He has no memories of it, but was very close to my Mom while also being incredibly independent.....and active. As an adult, he is extremely supportive of breast feeding as he learns about it through his niece (my dd). We were talking about BF and when I told him the he was BF, he started asking my Mom questions. It was sort of cute to see him trying to remember nursing, but he couldn't. He isn't married and has no kids, but says he wants his children to be nursed.

[Rox5266]

I was CLW at 10 months, so I don't remember it. My Mom says she would give me the breast and I would spit it out. I was already drinking from a tippy cup and eating solids from a young age (I was born in the '60's they did not know any better then - and forget bf, my Mom was considered weird to be nursing :LOL ).

My brother was also CLW at 11 months. My Mom thinks we quit nursing so young because she had no milk left - since we were started on solids so early. She thought she would nurse us for at least 18 months.

Roxanne
Daniel 8/9/03

[Ruthla]

My mom claims that "I weaned her" when I was 11mo, the very same day I learned how to walk. (I guess nobody had heard of a nursing strike in 1973.) She also tells me the story of how I gave all my bottles to my new baby cousin when I was 2.5- so I was obviously using a bottle quite a bit when I stopped breastfeeding!!

I DID grow up "nursing" my dolls and stuffed animals and it never occured to me to bottlefeed an infant- in fact, the only bottlefed baby I knew was my adopted cousin (who was AP'd with a bottle.) I grew up with the understanding that breastfeeding is "what mothers do."

[foreverinbluejeans]

My oldest weaned at age 6, is now 25 and remembers it well. He used to say it was better than pizza. He remembers nursing with his brother, now 21. The 21 year old remembers nursing with his brother, nursing in bed, and loving the smell of my sweat. Maybe people not extended breastfed have more sweat hangups.

Neither child ended up needing braces. The 21 year old had an abnormal roof of his mouth and extensive mouth surgery was planned when he was a baby. I put it off and he ended up not needing it because breastfeeding had improved it so much. He breastfed until he was around 4. He didn't think breastfeeding was as much fun once older brother weaned.

My oldest almost weaned while I was pregnant. He had an asthma attack and had to be hospitalized at a major children's hospital. He brought my milk back in and was able to leave the hospital much sooner because he could keep my milk down. The allergist said to nurse him until he was 6 - and this was back in 1982.

They turned out well and I have good relationships with both of them.

[Sustainer]

I was breastfed until I was 3 years old. I don't remember it. My brother was only breastfed for six months. When we were growing up, he caught every illness that came around, and I never did. Now that you mention it, he had more emotional problems, too (night terrors, etc).

[marisa724]

I nursed until maybe age 5 or so... I don't remember a thing about it, though. I know I was done by the time my brother was born - I was 6 - because I do remember 'trying' it again after I saw him nursing. But that was a one-time deal.

My mom says my brother weaned around 3-ish, in the same way he did everything -- one day he decided he was weaned, one day he decided he would use the potty, and that's the way it was from then on.

We are all very close to my mom, in fact she's one of the reasons I'm on MDC and all. She gave me her back issues when I was PG. She was always a LLL when I was growing up, now she's a IBCLC... I'm putting in an application to start leader training soon myself so I guess I'm following in her footsteps.

FWIW, apart from needing glasses and having a few cavities (my own fault for being such a junk food junkie) I am healthy as can be. My DH will get hit hard with a cold for a week, and I will have a sniffle for two days.

[Tuesday]

I just am reading this thread in awe - what beautiful posts. Thanks for starting this thread and giving us an opportunity to hear such amazing supportive tales of CLW.

[awnja]

nice thread.

I often wonder about these things too, since I was weaned at 4 mos. I never had any issues with that until I became a mother. None of my family or extended family seems to have done clw. My mother thinks I should appreciate her even more now that I have a child of my own and I say that I do but deep down I think about the weaning a lot now... I want to ask how she did it and why. But I leave it alone. For the most paet, she was a super mommy... and sensitive.

So what makes an older nursling stop? What prompts a six year old to wean? Do they decide to "quit" or just forget to nurse?

Julie

[kavamamakava]

Originally Posted by sarajane

I was wondering if there is anyone here who was child led weaned when they were young? I am wondering the effects it has or doesn't have on a child as they age. Are the effects differnent in boys versus girls? Is there anyone who can help me out with these questions?

How old were you when you stopped nursing?
Do you remember it well?
Has it affected you in a good or bad way?
Emotionally?
Physically?

If nobody here has any personal experience do you know of any studies done on this? Where can I find them?

Thanks in advance! Appreciate it.

I thinking I mostly weaned during my mom's pregnancy when I was a little over 2. My sister was born when I was 2 1/2 and my mother would let me nurse when I asked. I remember nursing when I was 3 1/2 and my younger sister got mad at me.
I really can't say how it has affected me physically or emotionally since I have nothing to compare it to, for myself. But I never gave two thoughts to formula feeding since I only consider it as an alternative for when the breasts don't work or can't be offered. My mother had a slipped disc in her back when my brother was 3 months old and he had formula and a little pumped breastmilk for about a month. He was such a crabby baby during that time. He went on to CLW around age 4. He and I are nothing alike though. He's 23 and lives with my mom still as do his girlfriend and daughter. I've always been a lot more independent and even moved out of home at age 15.
I don't even think of breastfeeding in gushy terms and don't even really love it. It's just how I feed my babies.

[MacKinnon]

Hi- my husband and I, as well as all of our siblings were CLW. All around 2 1/2 to 3 years of age. None of us remember nursing at all. I do remember my mom nursing my sister, who is 8 years younger then me, very fondly It never occured to me that people did otherwise and have always thought it strange that people DIDN'T nurse! All 6 of us (me, DH and our 4 siblings) are very healthy, well adjusted adults with great relationships with our mothers and significant others. I consider myself very fortunate to have both a mom and MIL who CLW and don't think that I am "weird" for having an 11 month old who is 90%+ breastfed.

[callmemama]

Originally Posted by marisa724

I nursed until maybe age 5 or so... I don't remember a thing about it, though.

Ds is 5 and is skipping days between nursings now. I would be so sad if he didn't remember nursing when he was older. I like to think remembering would help him have a healthy attitude toward breasts and breastfeeding ... and hopefully he will encourage the breastfeeding of his own children some day! Nothing like pinning high hopes on a little one, huh?!

I do think its great that you nursed until 5 and that you're an MDC'er!

[mother_sunshine]

Callmemama, even if he doesn't remember nursing I'm sure it will subconsciously affect how he views breastfeeding, yk?

[Still_Snarky]

At first I was just : but then... I thought "Hey! I was CLWed!"

I weaned at about 2.5 and don't remember a thing about it. I am close to my mom but very independent. I think the biggest influence it had on me was that I never even considered not nursing my daughter. I too find it strange that anyone would choose to formula feed.

[mother_sunshine]

Originally Posted by awnja

So what makes an older nursling stop? What prompts a six year old to wean? Do they decide to "quit" or just forget to nurse?

Julie

Hi Julie,
Dd self-weaned at 7.5yrs. For her, she gradually decreased nursing (by her own choice) from every day to every few days to once a week (and back and forth for a while) until one day she said she was ready to wean. She went on to nurse a few times, with big breaks in between, until I stopped producing milk. The last time she nursed she said that I wasn't making milk anymore, so she didn't want to nurse without milk. She talks fondly about nursing often so I think she'll probably remember it. I hope so anyway.

[charmarty]

this thread has me all the families that CLW back when allot more ppl were against it!!! And WE thought the world was against us! Can yuo imagine what it was like then????

I am loving this!!

I am sure my girls (who are 4) will remember nursing!

[karlin]

I wasn't breastfed at all, but a friend of mine weaned at age 5 and says she remembers it pretty well. What she recalls the most are the feelings of comfort and security.

[jempd]

I was breastfed and so were my sisters but all weaned around 1 except for me, who was abruptly weaned around 3 months when my mother was hospitalized for some illness. My favorite baby photo of myself is me with my mother when I was two days old, breastfeeding.

This summer, I met the grown daughter of a friend of my sister's, who has just graduated college at 22. I talked to her mother and her because I was there with ds who still nurses at 3 and they were saying how people thought they were weird because she nursed to five or so. She said she remembers it well and seeing my son nurse brought a lot of it up for her, very good feelings of safety and contentment. She hit it off with my son like very few people have and was enormously loving, patient, kind, and playful with him. He was smitten. You know how much I wished she lived close by and could hang out with him often! She and her mother have an obviously affectionate relationship, but then she was raised alone by her mother and I wonder how much it has to do with that. It was a really nice encounter because her mother and I talked about the ups and downs of bfing to that age and beyond and how she handled this problem and that, which was really nice for me because, other than this board, I've never had that experience.

[Raven]

What a great thread!!