Ok...So how old is the oldest nursling you know? Or have heard of?? - Page 3

[nikisager]

Originally Posted by Dub-ya

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

: Not trying to be rude but perhaps you should read around a little to find out what this board is about?

[mama_at_home]

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

Obviously if a child is choosing to still nurse it is meeting important emotional needs for them. Also, nursing toddlers and older children can be very physically and emotionally taxing. Yes, the bond is wonderful, but it doesn't come without sacrifice. I am still nursing my 3 year old along with my twins and I can assure you it is NOT for my benefit.

Anyway, back to the question. IRL my son is the oldest nursing I personally know.

[lyttlewon]

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[Meiri]

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs.

Yeah. The children continue because they're getting nothing from it: no comfort, no nutrition, no immune factors...

Oh-oh, wait a minute! They are getting ALL of those things.

People don't tend to continue doing something voluntarily that they get nothing from. Children especially.

[speairson]

Originally Posted by Dub-ya

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

Yeah, not to slam on ya too hard, but this arguement always seemed a bit absurd to me. I mean how many toddlers will regularly do something solely for the benefit of someone else with no benefit to themself? Let's be honest, toddlers are sweet, adorable little beings, but altruistic nursing... I don't think so. They are getting something out of it or they wouldn't do it.

[Zyla]

In real life, my son at 5yrs 9mos. I'm sure I know people who nursed a child or two longer than that who haven't mentioned it.

My four year old is going strong.

[ewins24]

Quote from Dub-ya:Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!
That makes me sad that you would come here and say that! Do you not realize what these boards are for? We all our doing what is right for OUR kids. No this may not work for you and your child but don't judge someone esle for what they are doing.

Back to the question:

IRL My gf who is nursing her 6 yr old. I'm the oldest in my family w/ my dd at 3 1/2.

Online: I've heard of a 11 yr old.

I think its great that so may kids are getting bm for so long! "It does a body good!"

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Irl the oldest nursling I know was my own dd at just shy of 32months. Mdc 9yrs.

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

No matter how long they nurse the milk STILL has antibodies that help protect from illness. Even for adults bm can be good if they get sick. For instance I once read a story about a woman who was in collage and had a nursling and one of the professors (if I remember right) came to her wanting some of the milk for his pink eye. She put some fresh in a cup and he used it. My own dh burns his eyes regularly at work welding and I put it in his eyes to help sooth and heal them faster. Sorry a bit OT there but relavent I think.

There is also the emotional benifit like some of the pp's have mentioned.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by lyttlewon

You can't really think of it as an average since it is not a normal bell curve. Truly the most beneficial number would be the mode, number occuring most often.

The "average age of weaning" according to anthropology is 4-7 years.
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html

Um, did you read Kathy's article? Because your post says the opposite of what she says. The reason an average (mean) would be pointless is that so many babies aren't breastfed at all, therfore skewing the curve to the right. The median age is about 2.8. The biologically normal age of weaning, based on comparisions of human biology to that of humans and other mammals, ranges from 2.5 to 7. "Anthropology" says nothing about the average age of weaning. A mode would not be at all helpful in describing central tendency here - the exact age at which most children wean would say very little about the tendencies of the group.

The "average of of weaning worldwide is 4.2 years" statistic has been thrown around for at least ten years (and is usually said to be "according to the World Health Organization"), but it's not true. My personal estimate for the mean age of weaning worldwide would be somewhere between 6 and 18 months... FWIW.

dar

[lyttlewon]

Originally Posted by Dar

Um, did you read Kathy's article? Because your post says the opposite of what she says. The reason an average (mean) would be pointless is that so many babies aren't breastfed at all, therfore skewing the curve to the right. The median age is about 2.8. The biologically normal age of weaning, based on comparisions of human biology to that of humans and other mammals, ranges from 2.5 to 7. "Anthropology" says nothing about the average age of weaning. A mode would not be at all helpful in describing central tendency here - the exact age at which most children wean would say very little about the tendencies of the group.

The "average of of weaning worldwide is 4.2 years" statistic has been thrown around for at least ten years (and is usually said to be "according to the World Health Organization"), but it's not true. My personal estimate for the mean age of weaning worldwide would be somewhere between 6 and 18 months... FWIW.

dar

I posted the wrong article. Here is the one I meant to post http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detsurvey.htm
I got the two articles mixed up.

[mamaofthree]

IRL my midwife nursed her youngest until he was 6 (maybe a little over that).

H

[Apwannabe]

The oldest IRL is my friends daughter she was older than 3 but I am not sure what her exact age was.
My kids weaned at 2.7yrs adn 13 months. Kae is still nursing and I am hoping she nurses till at least but preferablly longer.
I have an 8 yr old and I can not imagine nursing him. I can not imagine him wanting to nurse either. I'm not sure iwill be able to explain this right but I'm gonna try and maybe someone else will help me out.
I think it is different thinking of your 8 year old weaned child nursing than it being something that you just do. My 3dc only nursed till 13 months, he is 2 now and I can not imagine him nursing but I was nursing his sister at the same age and it wasn't weird at all. So if it is something that just grows with you it doesn't seem strange at all. MAke sense?

[Kajira]

Originally Posted by Dub-ya

Gee, 10 years old? I would think anything over 3 would be for the mothers benefit more than the childs. My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

whoa
yup the mother's are getting something out of it, nasty comments from family, friends and total strangers :


I breastfed until age 6-7, when my mom's husband came into the picture and FREAKED !! : that said I lived in a household with 3 women so while there may not have been milk in the breast I remember bugging my grandmother and great great aunt for milk up to age 8 who cares they had none, I just liked that they held me and loved me

[callmemama]

Originally Posted by Dub-ya

My son is 6 and he is a little man!!! I couldnt imagine!

This is where we differ. I don't expect my 6yo to be a man. He is a child. He sees breasts as they are intended - to nurture and nourish young children. Its too bad if your "little man" sees them as sex objects. Fortunately for our son, my husband is a real man that understands and supports child led weaning! That said, my son weaned at 5 years 10 months.

[Meiri]

Well put, callmemama.

I understand exactly what you're saying about growing into nursing at whatever age, Apwannabe. I can't imagine DS having been nursing at 7, even as rarely as DD nurses now.

[mamaofthree]

I think someone here posted about how if you are not in that spot (nursing a 6 year old let's say) then it does seem "weird", but if you are doing it it is normal. I look at my 8 year old and think he seems too big (size wise) to be nursing. Even though my 4 1/2 year old weaned while I was pregnant with dc#4 he still seems small enough to bf (again size wise). In fact I wish I had let him start up again when I had dc#4.
I had a woman tell me how she was talking to a "LLL weirdo" (her words) and "that woman had the nerve to bf her 2 year old in front of me". : horror of horrors. I can't imagine a 2 year old seeming too old, they are still so baby (but then like I said my 4 1/2 year old still seems like a baby to me. )
So I guess it all depends. I mean on this board a 2 year old is just par for the course, but "out there" it seems to old. To me a ten year old seems to old, but that is me and I am not nursing one, so we will see. Maybe I will be some day...
H

[Dar]

Originally Posted by lyttlewon

I posted the wrong article. Here is the one I meant to post http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detsurvey.htm
I got the two articles mixed up.

That's a link to a survey of 1200 women in the US who nursed for at least 3 years (and I'm one of the data points, FWIW), and the average weaning ages of their children. The respondents were not a randomly selected group even in that narrow category. It says nothing about the most useful number being the mode, or the average age of weaning worldwide, or any of the other claims you made in the post you deleted...

I'm not trying to be mean, but accurately reporting the research and statistics are important to me. If we lose credibility by saying things we can't back up, or things that turn out to be false, we hurt the breastfeeding cause.

FWIW, the oldest nursling I've known personally (in person) was 8, and the oldest child of an internet friend was 9. My daughter was almost 4 when she weanings, and in my personal experience, most children I've know who have self-weaned have been 3 or 4... although I've known plenty who were older and a handful who were younger.

dar, online lactivist since 1994

[ShelFish]

My own dd stopped nursing three months shy of four. It was cute, actually. She'd been begging for a little sister for MONTHS, and when we finally started TTC, we didn't have any luck right away. When I started charting, it became apparant that I was having anovulatory cycles. One night as she was having her night-night nursie she again asked for a baby sister. I told her that mommy was doing all she could to get one, but that it would probably help if she didn't have nursies anymore. She thought about that for a moment and then announced, "I won't have nursies anymore. I want a baby sister."

She never asked again.

She's not the oldest nursling I know IRL, though. My best friend's dd - who is one day younger than my dd - nursed until this past April when the girls were 4yrs 3mo.

[tasbaby]

Shelfish, That's very cute! And, I see that it worked too! Congrats on your little one on the way.

IRL, the oldest child I've seen nursing is 3 at a LLL meeting. Other than LLL, I only know of one other person who nursed past a year and one friend who went to a year with both of her kids. I sometimes feel like such an odd-ball since I have a 14 month old who is still nursing (except he is still such a baby and loves it so much!) but I'm really glad to have found MDC!

Tina

[ckberkey]

Same as pp, I saw a 3 year old nursing at a LLL meeting. About the ten year old nursing- to each his/her own... booby