If you are a mom that has breastfed your child past the standard norm in the US, then you are an “extreme” breastfeeder. Get those boobies ready for the X Games!
Seriously though, when most of the world breastfeeds their children way beyond infancy, why would the mainstream media call it “extreme” in the US.
Oh, sensationalism gets your attention, and how dare a mother use her breasts for feeding a child rather than for sexualization.
This is actually an old story, nothing new here, but sometimes news takes awhile to travel. Although ABC featured the story a year ago, SF Gate brought the story to my attention yesterday. The Mommy Files reports:
Breastfeeding a child until he is age 4 is unusual in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics reccommends exclusive breastfeeding for about the first six months and support for nursing for the first year and beyond, as long as mutually desired by mother and child. But only 23 percent of women in the U.S. make it until age 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It’s simply not part of American culture to nurse a toddler.
Jennifer was aware that long-term breastfeeding is considered taboo, and so she didn’t freely share that she was still nursing her 3-year-old son in the morning and at night before bedtime. She only told friends who she figured wouldn’t criticize her. “I knew I was getting into weirdo land for a lot of people,” she says.
She only breastfed in her home and told her son to keep quiet about it. “When he was about 3 years old, I remember having a discussion between the two of us,” Jennifer says. “I told him that what we’re doing is private and we don’t need to talk about it outside the house.”
Ann Sinnott, author of the new book Breastfeeding Older Children, nursed her daughter until she was six-years-old. She surveyed parents in 48 countries on their breastfeeding practices wishing to “challenge the negative perceptions of many psychologists who contend that breastfed older children are emotionally damaged.” Sinnott explains in the Irish Independent:
If, as a result of my book, more mums breastfeed their babies for a year, I’ll be happy. If they breastfeed until the child is two I’ll be happier still, and if they allow they child to self-wean I’ll be happiest of all.
Breastfed children are happy. They rarely cry because their needs are being met. My daughter, at six, was serene and incredibly independent, yet she had the need to continue breastfeeding. I went along with her until she was ready to stop.
Child psychologist Will Braun told ABC News, “I think a child really needs to learn to develop the capacity to soothe oneself, the capacity to tolerate frustration. When a child is constantly given a breast, it might thwart that from happening.”
Mainstream media’s portrayal of breastfeeding beyond one year as “extreme” upsets me, as well as comments from child psychologists who do not know world statistics. Even ABC News admits, “The average age of weaning around the world is 4 years old and there are no studies saying it is harmful.” So, why do they need to dub breastfeeding toddlers “extreme”?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. I breast fed for 2 years and would never think that was extreme. But I guess, according to ABC I am an extremist. Call me what you will, ABC. I have a healthy, happy, well-adjusted toddler who had his needs met until he was ready to be finished with nursing.
As author of Breastfeeding Older Children, my challenge to Will Braun is this: as a psychologist you are a science-based professional and so I ask you, what is your evidence-base for making this assertion? The answer, of course, is that you have none. There have been few psychosocial adjustment studies of breastfed children and NONE have been conducted on children breastfed for longer than ONE year. Your comment is based on fallacies common in your profession (still labouring under the influence of Freud) and reflects nothing more than the prevailing culture and its values. Cultures, however, evolve and attitudes change.
The substantial and significant anecdotal evidence in Breastfeeding Older Children (2000+ mothers/fathers, 4000+ children, 48 countries – and this is only the tip of the iceberg) comprehensively refutes your inaccurate assertion.
My confident challenge to your profession is this: conduct a largescale psychosocial adjustment study of long-term breastfed children and let’s see who is right – your profession, who rarely see these children, or their parents, who have first hand knowledge, and whose comments echo and re-echo each other irrespective of location.
It always amazes me that so called scientist want to tell us that something that has been natural since the first humans on earth and is still natural in most parts of the world is not good for you. If it wasn´t supposed to be like that mother nature wouldn´t have done it that way. When will people finally go back to trusting their feelings about what is right? It is ok to breastfeed your child until you or your child decide to end it just as much as it is ok to share the same bed with your baby or to pick up your child when it cries even though it´s past bedtime.
I couldn’t agree with the above comments more! Ann, your book is wonderful. Keep up the good work and don’t let the ignorance of others get you down.
Katie x
Interesting… why did they not mention the recommendations of UNCIEF and WHO, both of whom recommended at least 2 years.
Whoohoo! I’m extreme!
Well, almost, this round. She’s turning 1 really soon and nowhere near ready to wean.
I’m much a fan of child-led weaning. My two older kids both chose to wean around 18 months. I don’t doubt I could have encouraged it longer if I wanted, but I was satisfied that they were ready. We’ll see when this one chooses to wean.
I have to agree with Ann about the psychologist’s comment. What nonsense! If you’re going to make a claim about how a child develops, have some evidence.
In my own experience, breastfeeding a toddler is a great way to soothe him or her and it doesn’t keep them from learning to self soothe. Breastfeeding is simply one method of soothing.
As a Lactation Consultant and a doula I work so hard to help moms and dads doing the best for their babies–then they have to deal with family member who watch silly programs like this and ask them if they’re “sure” about “whole breastfeeding thing”!
Babies and children are meant to breastfeed and we should allow them to do so as long as it works for that family (period).
I have to say they I have been breastfeeding for over four years now and it really is completely natural. I always said that she would stop whenever she wanted to and I felt that pushing her away from something she loves so dearly would send the wrong message. I fully understand that some mothers need to wean early due to jobs or stress or illness and that is their business to do so. For me, she cosleeps and nurses at night and in the morning, it’s just a natural part of her routine. If she hurts herself or is upset, it soothes her like nothing else. One day she will no longer be a child and I will look back at the years I breastfed her as the most rewarding years of my life. I have never before been given the opportunity to give so much of myself to someone else and I am truly happy to be able to do this for her.