Extrodiary Breastfeeding

[mama24-7]

Here's a video on extended breastfeeding. No supernanny needed here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHRyRCHuQ7g

Sus

[hunnybumm]

I think it's great that they feel so secure in their believes that they are able to share it in a video. Though I am embarassed to admit that I was grimacing when they said she was 8 and still BFed, and they showed video of it. I didn't even realize I was doing it until the end. I look at my 3yo and couldn't imagine nursing him (he weaned at around 20 months) but I personally find 3 to be a completely acceptable age to still be nursing. I guess it's just different when the time passes gradualy. I couldn't imagine my 15 month old NOT breastfeeding, or stopping any time soon.

[JessasMilkMama]

I honestly was uncomfortable. Most of my AP friends felt icked out by it too. And I was just nursing my 4yo the other night although I consider us pretty much done, she goes a couple of months in between nursing (she turns 5 in 5 weeks). I dont want to nurse her anymore.

A lot of people might not comment about it making them uncomfortable, for fear of being flamed, but I shall I really would not be comfortable nursing an 8 yo.

[BCFD]

I'm all for EBF, but it also made me uncomfortable.

[Ruthla]

I didn't listen to the sound- TV in the background here- but it looked really sweet from what I saw.

[guest9921]

I found it beautiful.

[monkeys4mama]

I didn't get to hear the sound either (speaker not working on this puter) but the images were fine by me. I thought it was interesting watching the video w/o sound and seeing what a totally normal family they seemed to be and how the woman just seemed to be chatting naturally about whatever. Since you couldn't hear her, you had no idea what she was discussing. Could have been the berry picking and her kids' artwork.

Fwiw, I was once one of those people who were shocked and alarmed by breastfeeding past one year. It's a cultural thing. We are so brainwashed here in the US where I live, we have our thinking so totally screwed up. It wasn't until I actually was a nursing mother that I came to realize that the nursing relationship was a continuing one and that it changed and grew as the child grew. Nursing was not just food, but comfort and nurturing as well. And when allowed to choose nursing and weaning on their own schedule, many children (all of mine) will choose to nurse well past infancy and toddlerhood. Of mine, the earliest to wean was 4 and the oldest (so far) was 6 (that one, even after she officially weaned, would still occasionally "sneak" a "sip"). There's nothing sexual about it. And the kids are normal, healthy, happy, socially well-adjusted kids. My kids go to public school and we hear from their teachers what mature kids they are, which certainly blows the theories about it arresting their development or whatever the critics claim. I dunno. I can totally understand why people make the comments they do, since I once would have laughed and agreed, so I can't be angry about them. But I am sad. It's such a shame that bf beyond infancy has become such a taboo thing in our culture. And while most kids will not nurse for 7 or 8 years, some of them would, if allowed. You have to figure there's a normal range for spontaneous weaning, which will include some very early weanlings and some very late ones. Ykwim? Around here on MDC, some moms have reported feeling bad or ostracized b/c their kids self-weaned at unexpectedly young ages. And then you get the opposite attitude towards most of us "extended nursers" from the culture at large.

Not sure I'd have the courage to post a video like that one on the net though. That woman is brave and she's gonna reap some major controversy. I support her though.

[APGoddess83]

I saw this being discussed on another board I go to and someone posted this article...

http://www.themothermagazine.co.uk/e...stfeeding.html

I haven't seen the video yet bc it just will not load for me but the article is good.

[lesley&grace]

I have very mixed feelings on this...there is the nursing aspect and then the mom talks about how she had to make rules about getting dressed on her own because the girls were touching and talking to her breasts. It almost seems like it interferes with their lives and is a focus instead of being just something they do. But then again, the video was a snippet of their lives in which they focused on the bf, so it may just have seemed that way. Although she did say that her children get upset when she wears a bra, which strikes me as the children having too much control over their mother's body.

I'm just not sure that going that far with CLW is healthy...especially since it's not really for nutrition, it's about comfort. If an 8 year old was going about with a pacifier then people would be saying "Oh that's wrong, she's way too old" but it seems that this 8 year old is using bf in the same way, as a comfort measure...kwim? And how would our opinions differ if this was a mom allowing her 8 year old to continue to drink formula in a bottle. And before the flames fly, I'm not equating formula to breastmilk, I'm just pointing out that our viewpoint would be very different if CLW was on a bottle, or if the mom was giving the girl EBM in a bottle.

I guess the only way we'll know whether or not it is healthy for her to have bf'd this long (and longer since they seem to have no inclination to wean) is when she is older and what effect it has had on her ability to become independent.

It's also not likely that this particular child is going to make the decision to wean on her own, I'd be curious to see how the weaning process goes and when it happens...and who will make the final choice, mom or the daughter.

[monkeys4mama]

Originally Posted by Witchy*AP*Mama

I saw this being discussed on another board I go to and someone posted this article...

http://www.themothermagazine.co.uk/e...stfeeding.html

I haven't seen the video yet bc it just will not load for me but the article is good.

This is an awesome article. The writer/mother is very articulate and provides an excellent argument for full-term breastfeeding. And I love that terminology. It's not extended breastfeeding at all, is it? Child-led weaning is full-term breastfeeding.

You go mama!

[artemis80]

I have to admit to feeling a little weirded out by the video, too. But my son is only 9 months, who knows what we'll be doing when he's 8?? (Honestly, I hope it's not breastfeeding, though.....).

As someone else said, the part that seemed the most strange wasn't so much the girl nursing as the way it just seemed to be something the entire family focused on so intently. But yeah, maybe that was just because it was the subject of the video.

[mothragirl]

pps-why do you think it makes you uncomfortable? what put an cut-off age in your head? i'm not attacking you, just asking you to ask yourself this. i think this video is beautiful and sweet, but 4 years ago it definately would have freaked me out.

[maternus.aeternum]

i saw this on another board and will say what i said over there - beautiful!

not personally something that is for me, but i absolutely support her and her children breastfeeding for such an extended period.

[Mama2ABCD]

i downloaded this video yesterday and watched it (worth the hour and half time that it took)

i thought it was beautiful and honest and very courageous of the mama to let her nursing relationship with her dd's be put out there for the world to watch and support or criticize.
and in my family the video is very normal. my oldest nursling is going to be 7 in less than 3 weeks. he still nurses a few minutes a few times a day. and he's very independent, does very well in school, is a wrestler, has a great imagination, loves life, and if someone gets injured on the opposite team he's the first (and many times only) one to rush over and give comfort to that child.
the comments i read on the u tube page (i only looked at one page) seemed about 50/50. so to me that was encouraging.
no age limit should be put on nursing. if my child still needs it, it's just a few minutes out of my day which i will gladly give him.

[Mama2ABCD]

thanks for posting the link to the article witchy*AP* mama. great article and the mother that wrote that article is the same mama in the video. worth checking out both.

[Beccah+twins+1]

I actually found it kind of touching, and it didn't seem as weird as I thought it would. Like many, my notion of what's "normal" has changed as my baby has gotten older, and as I have met other women. It happens to gradually that I imagine for this mom and family, it's just the norm.

The kids will stop on their own..there will come a point where they just won't do it. I don't know that I could nurse that long, but a 5 minute video also doesn't capture their entire experience.

I know SO MANY people that wean at 1 year old (or sooner), and my son just turned one and I could not imagine weaning him. Nursing is such a huge part of both of our lives still. But it's all relative. To some nursing my 1 year old is extended, to other's it's just the beginning (and for us, I hope we're only 1/3 of the way there). The mom clearly isn't forcing these kids to do anything they don't want to do so...to each his own.

[JessasMilkMama]

kirstie

I gotta give you props for nursing FOUR at one time (well not at ONE time because you only have two breasts lol) - but wow! Thats the most I have ever heard of.

[mayamama]

Oh, what a BEAUTIFUL video! : I'm crying now hoping my dd will want to bf as long as she REALLY wants. This video definitely convinced me to let her make all the decisions in that department.
I love that her older sister said, "Better than anything in the world. Better than mango even!" So sweet!
Thanks for sharing!

[annettemarie]

Please remember not to post comments from other boards or comment on discussions on other boards, or link to other online communities or discussions, as per the User Agreement. It helps to protect us from people tracking back here to MDC and stirring up trouble, which I'm sure none of us want. Thanks, ladies. If you have any questions, please PM me.

[mama2mygirl]

It made me uncomfortable too. I also feel guilty about that and a little reassured that other ap mamas have felt that way too.
My dd weaned at four and I encouraged her. In some ways, since weaning, our relationship is stronger. She's much more cuddly and I have to think more about comforting her. Before if we were having a hard day I could just nurse her and it would all be better. It has been interesting to see how we connect and attach now.