A woman who has asked for other parents’ opinions on her breastfeeding her nine-year-old daughter has received a lot of backlash from people who say it’s ‘not natural or healthy’
How long you breastfeed your baby is a completely personal choice, but it turns out people still have strong opinions about it.
‘Fed is best,’ when it comes to breastfeeding, but one woman has been criticised online after admitting she still breastfeeds her nine-year-old child. According to the NHS, it’s recommended to breastfeed your child, for those who can/choose to, for up to two years – but some continue to do it beyond this which isn’t an issue.
However, it hasn’t stopped fellow parents casting shame on the mum, who explained her child quite in enjoys it, and doesn’t want her to stop. Posting on Quora, the On my woman asked: “I still allow my nine-year-old daughter to breastfeed from me, and she won’t stop until she wants to. Does anyone support me?”
On this subject, the NHS says: “If you choose to breastfeed, it’s recommended that babies should consume only breast milk for around the first six months of their lives. After this, it is recommended that they continue to be breastfed for two years and beyond, alongside eating other foods.”
This is backed up by children’s health charity Nemours, who say that experts “recommend continuing to breastfeed for two years (and beyond) if it works for you and your baby,” adding: “Any length of time your baby can be breastfed is beneficial”.
However, the woman’s post was flooded with strong opinions from parents, who condemned the woman for continuing to breastfeed a nine-year-old child. One person wrote: “Please seek help, this is not natural or healthy for your daughter. You really need to turn off the mommy spigots and let her grow up.”
Another shared: “Even animals wean their young. It’s part of the natural process of helping them grow up. That’s why we have a specific word for that phase. Every mammal does it. The process by definition involves denying suckling to babies who still want to suckle, so they will grow up into healthy, independent beings. So there is nothing ‘natural’ about what you are doing. Quite the opposite. Sorry.”
A third wrote: “Breast or bottlefeeding is how infants get their nutrition until they are able to eat baby food. There’s no earthly reason for a nine-year-old to still be fed like an infant.”
However, experts agree that when to stop is entirely down to the mum and baby, and some are in no hurry to stop it. Experts at Better Health say it’s “not unusual for children up to four years of age to continue to be breastfed”.
The World Health Organisation adds that there is a lot of benefits of continuing to breastfeed, but you need to do what’s right for you and the baby. They say: “The longer you breastfeed up to two years, the greater the health benefits might be for you and your child. Yet the most important thing is to continue breastfeeding for as long as feels right for you and your baby, rather than what other people think.”
According to the National Childbirth Trust, you can “breastfeed your baby for as long as you wish,” but there may come a time where you want to stop – this is called weaning. For some women, this involves decreasing the number of breastfeeds, and introducing solid foods.
This should happen gradually, and not as a replacement for breast milk to begin with. Once they have got used to eating solids and are taking on about three feeds like this a day, they can start gaining the nutritional benefits from it, and rely on it more for their growth and development.
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