Breast Is Best.
 

I was watching GMTV this morning and have also noticed tht there is a documentary on Channel 4 tonight on the same issue, both debating the age that children should be taken off breast feeding. Obviously breast is best for babies and health officials recommend breast feeding until the age of between 6 and 12 month (I think) but one of the little girls was still breast feeding at 6 year old. The mother tried to say it was just a comfort thing for the child and that she only fed first thing in the morning and last thing at night and was only a private thing done indoors. I don't know why but this disturbed me quite abit.

If the childs happy should they still be encouraged to feed from the breast or is there an age when it really should be discouraged?

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

Sorry can't resist this one.

Bitty, bitty :D

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lol! So your still being breast fed yerself! ;)

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

The WHO and UNICEF recommend that all babies are fully breastfed until they are between 4 and 6 months old. Fully breastfed means that they are given no other food or fluids. Most people will start to wean their babies between these ages hence babies will naturally come off the breast for all feeds and breastfeed less.

Although I always promote breastfeeding over bottle, I believe that breastfeeding a child at the age of 6 is tantamount to child abuse. The child probably knows no different but the mother is in a position to stop it. I think that the women who feed their children to extreme ages have severe psychological problems which involve not wanting to let go and allow their children to grow up and lead normal lives.

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I do have a much better comment but I am keeping it to myself.

Yes I think 6 is too old. When is she planning on stopping breast feeding? When she leaves home.

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My sentiments exactly I really believe the mother of that child still needed to be breast feeding that child more than the child needed it ..... really disturbing!

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rock n roll legends aswell as advice givers to mothers.....good on 'em :D:p

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Seems it gets confused in the Uk with what is socially acceptable and therefore 'discouraged'
Heard on radio tonight that 2 years (!)gives the best benefits, and lots of mums in other countrys can feed up 'til 4 years !! Ok this is what the more 'uncivilised' societies are doing naturally. Just wondered how you would cope if you had more children under 4 years. :confused: Would need to grow another breast .. don't have udders, do we ?

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Hehehe, you're a little b*gger Shaker.........of course, I meant the World Health Organisation...:D

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This thread has appeared at a good time.
It was only this morning at 4am while I was feeding Emily a bottle, that I was thinking it was a lot better when she was being breastfed ;)

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whats wrong with frozen milk and a catapault...?

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I would love to have exclusively breastfed until Emily was 12 months old but other committments loom, so she had the recommended 5 months, and has a little now & then when she feels like it! As pointed out by health care professionals some is better than none. Feeding passed the age of two is yuk in my humble opinion, whether that is just what society has drummed into me as being unnacceptable, or whether I would feel any different if it were socially acceptable here to feed till 6, I don't know. But to be honest Little Britain has put me off a tad!!

Bitty!!!!

I do feel the support for breasfeeding is 100% better now than it was 4 years ago when I had Tom. Hats off to Letties lot for keeping me focused and staying with it. I am really quite proud of myself thanks to them!

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There is something a bit freaky about a mother breast feeding an 8yr old.....and it gets freakier, when the mother asks the daughter what she wants for her 9th birthday and the daughter replies 'a breastfeed'.

Two of the women who are doing this extended breast feeding were on Richard and Judy tonight.....both mothers are educating their children at home.....so no fear of ridicule at school by their peers.

I think breast feeding a baby is admirable......but I have uncomfortable feelings about 8 year olds being breast fed......and to me it begs the question 'Is the mother getting some kind of gratification from this practice?' (call me cynical if you like)

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That is my thought too MP, gratification..... I couldn't think of the right word when I made my first post. I do think that these mothers have serious psychological problems.

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According to Richard and judy they had sought the opinions of psychiatrists, psychologists and the like and they could find no-one who thought extended breast feeding was harmful to either the child or the mother.

They went out on the streets and canvassed public opinion and there was only one woman (of jamaican origin - don't know if that is culturally relevant) who thought that this practice was acceptable. Most people thought that 2 years was the longest anyone should breast feed.....personally even that is too long. Can you imagine being in Tesco and a two year old lifting his mothers jumper to get a feed...?

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And what might be acceptable in the Congo doesn't necessarily translate to Cheadle.

Extended breast feeding for most mothers is a practical impossibility, unless of course you work from home or are a full time mother...which most women aren't.

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I was so shocked when I heard that a Mother was still breastfeeding her 8yr old Daughter.
It's just not natural.
I think this person must have some serious problems. It makes me cringe when I hear of a toddler with teeth being breast fed.

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OMG! :eek: OWWWW !! They must be mad!!

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Congo/Cheadle ?? Exactly my point .. not socially acceptable in our society any more, like all women at the moment fighting their career orientated motives against nature .. evolution I suppose, 'as we make it' Lots of new mothers make their excuses that they have problems with breast feeding, when what they are really saying is that they wish to have the freedom of bottle feeding to release them to do other things . No criticism on my part at all. Resent the comments that feeding older children points to psychological problems .. to me just the link stuck in the middle of the Congo and Cheadle.
On a personal note, breast fed my son to 5 months until I had an accident which put me in hospital and after being plied with pain killers, was adviced that best to let go. Was naturally worried as he had never had a bottle since birth. I will never forget the lip-curling on the Sister's face when my daughter brought him into the ward and she exclaimed "Goodness, thought was going to be a younger baby, not one of THAT age, what were you fussing about !" Obvious she thought I should have ceased this practice many weeks beforehand. Still hate that b**ch to this day. All relevant again to social acceptancy if you know what I mean.

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I'm thinking along the same lines M.P., some sort of gratification. She's still breast feeding her daughter at nine, at what age does she stop, 13, 14, 16. I think both mother and daughter have problems there.

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I suppose this should be in any questions but never mind...

can a women lactate for ever if a baby, or in this case a child, is still suckling?

Is that what a wet nurse was in days gone by? A woman who was employed to feed the offspring of those that wouldn't or couldn't feed their children at their own breast?

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What if it was a boy, this is really strange, cos according to american laws and probably british, there is no legal age to stop, so in theory a 16 yr old boy could still breast feed!

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

Women can lactate for as long as they are breastfeeding. It is possible for women who have had children to re-lactate for an adopted child or grandchild. In some cultures the grandmother actually does the breastfeeding while the mother works, I believe that this is quite common in Nepal..:D

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

I think that breast is best, but not for the older child i think when the mother said to the eight year old child "if you cant get any milk then its time to stop" and the 8 year old was upset because she thought that it would be ok to just suck even though not getting any milk from the mother!!! If the mother wanted her child to get the best breast milk then from an early age she should have expressed her milk for the child that way she is still getting the best milk without it being wrong! so if you ask me there is something not quite right in the head of that woman.

There was another lady who was trying to breast feed a baby she had adopted the baby had never been to the breast or had breast milk so why get so exited over trying to get the child to breast feed? she started to feed her from a breast shaped bottle and got very excited when the child drank from it and she was looking to get the child to become a breast feeder, why to then go and change her back again to the bottle and formula milk or cow milk. Its not right i tell you.

Breast feeding should be kept to feeding them up to 12 months and then weaned onto cows milk or you will have problems getting them off.

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I have to say that this programme did disturb me too, one mother said it was a comfort thing - if that's all it is what's wrong with simply giving the child a cuddle.

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I know the WHO recommend giving some breastmilk up to the age of 2, and I know lots of people in this country who have done this, but I think that 8 years old is extreme to say the least. The reason that the WHO recommend this is because most women in poorer countries have no access to clean water supplies in order to mix formula, or no access to the formula itself. I have no objection to anybody breastfeeding anywhere, in fact I think that it should be encouraged. Nobody would approach an adult who was eating a sandwich on a park bench and ask them to stop because it's offensive, so why the big issue with a baby having it's lunch on the same park bench?

We are extremely lucky in this country that we have access to an alternative way of feeding our babies, but let's face it....... Most women don't feed anywhere near as long as they should or could, because who can afford to be off work for that long???

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

Well, I fed my daughter for 10 months and I only gave up because she had teeth and took great delight in biting me......I do not think I would have carried on much beyond the age of 12 months......and Katex, when i said 'what is Ok in the Congo doesn't necessarily translate to Cheadle' is supported by Lettie's post about clean water and formula and such...it wasn't a cultural reference. Although, to be honest most mothers do not have the luxury to CHOOSE to breastfeed for so long as they need to go back to work to help support the family...and I don't think it is always a convenience thing.....if you want to give your baby breast milk then you can express that milk and it can be given in a feeding bottle.

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I think most mothers agree that breast-feeding is the best start for babies though I would never condemn those who, for what ever reason, don't. I breast-fed my own 3 until they were about 4 or 5 months old.

When it comes to breast-feeding an 8 year old I have the image of an indulged child (any siblings? I didn't see the programme) who may well grow up to have an unhealthy mother-fixation. When does it stop? Does mother eventually say, "Well, Tarquin, now you've started shaving it can't carry on due to the stubble-rash"?

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http://smilies.vidahost.com/ups/icis/ices_rofl.gif

Omg that made me laugh!!!

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I had this very conversation at work today, & it would appear that most of the people I was talking to regarding the above is of the same opinion........so no it's not your cynical self Margaret!

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When this is the case should there really not be some intervention from SS? They get involved in family cases when it appears the mother is too over-protective to the point of it being detrimental to the childs well-being.

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yes but how are they going to know tink.

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I think its wrong and unnecessary to breastfeed a child for so long, I breastfed for 7 months and that was long enough for myself and my daughter who made the decision to stop. I'm not even keen on seeing toddlers breastfeed, I think thats too long also. The women breastfeeding her 8yr old is doing it for her own benefit, the children may like it but they dont know any different, they are taught at home and have little or no outside the family contact with the real world.

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

Had to take Emily to Docs yesterday as she has gastroenteritis. I said it was a shame that I had recently stopped breastfeeding so I could return to work, as I knew that with these sorts of tummy bugs you can continue to give breast milk. He blatantly told me that it was 'my fault she had this viral infection, and if I had still been breast feeding she would probably not have got it so bad'. Obviously nothing to do with the fact 2 other babies at nursery are presenting with exactly the same symptoms then? This may be the case but my God I feel that was a bit heavy handed, he did however try to sugar the pill by saying how gorgeous she is. Hey ho! I don't need a GP to tell me that! Did I have a go at him...........no I was there for Emily's sake and felt that it was neither the time nor the place to express my concerns that his opinion was.... in a word... CRAP! when my little girl felt so poorly.

Can you imagine how I would be feeling now had she been admitted to hospital and put on IV fluids, or maybe if she'd been diagnosed with Meningitis, as most simple childhood illnesses present with very similar symptoms?

Today I reflect on his words and wonder what sort of state I'd be in if he'd said the same to me 4 years ago when I had Thomas and suffered terribly with PND.

So what happened to the 'NO STIGMA' with bottle feeding then? and we'll support you in whatever method of feeding you choose for your baby??

It would seem it never filtered down from midwifery to GP which in my eyes today stands for GREAT PRATT!

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Romps don't feel guilty......as you say your GP was insensitive to say the least.......how does he know that your milk had not run out......not all women can breast feed.....and while I support women who feel able to breast feed I feel it is not necessary to heap guilt on those mums who can't (for whatever reason). I have a close relative who had real psychological problems with breast feeding...she chose to bottle feed, but the number of midwives and health visitors that heaped guilt on her for this choice were unbelievable.

I'm sure that babies pick up from the Mum if she is unhappy with breastfeeding.....it isn't something that every mum takes to.

Hope that Emily is better very soon.

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

I hated breastfeeding it gave me terrible headaches and was told that if I could continue to breastfeed for the first few days untill the breast milk started flowing that most of the goodness is in the colostrum.
There is no shame in bottle feeding. All my babies thrived on the bottle and were hardly ever ill.
You just have to make sure everything is well steralized. No reason why breast milk cant be fed from a bottle these days.

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

I am a great believer in breastfeeding, not just from the point of view of the baby either. No hassle about night-time feeds, heating bottles, making sure the temperature is just right - just haul the kid in, and plug in! Always the right mix, always the right heat, and a rested mum is a happy mum in my book.

Both my children were breastfed up to the age of about 2 - after the first year or so, only the early morning and/or nighttime feeds, as much for comfort and bonding as for nourishment. I had no problems with teeth, and no difficulty in getting either child to stop, just simply explained that it was something that was for smaller children, not for big growing-up ones. I would not, however, consider breastfeeing at 8 was either normal or desirable.

And oh, how I agree with Lettie - why is it perfectly acceptable to have tits plastered all over newspaper pages, but totally taboo to see a woman using them for their proper purpose?

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I breast fed my first for six weeks, thirteen years later, my second for 11 months. That I felt was quite old enough. Interestingly, one is 35, the other 22 and neither has even a filling.

I am a wholehearted supporter of women breastfeeding wherever they damn well like!

Re: Breast Is Best.
 

I blame the PC brigade for attaching a stigma to breast feeding!!!!

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I'd like to put them and do-gooders on a small island somewhere and cut off the water supply!

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Give them a water supply loaded with a strong laxative then they can see what we have been hearing from them over the years. Oh and stick Chubby Brown Bernie Manning Billy Conelly and any other un PC comedienes on as entertainment. :D

They have ruined many things with their retoric and something that nature intended as normal as breastfeeding shows how bad things are getting with them.

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I agree with that, mums should be able to breast feed where they want when they want within sensible reason . Also why are changing facilities in the most stupid of places. NEC for example, whole gents toilet block and where do they put in, in the entrance hall way so nobody can get by if your using it .