When does extended breastfeeding become weird....

FatVonD

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Very interesting debate going on here.

What would be the cut off point age wise, would age 11 still be ok for instance and if not why not?

I think somebody said earlier that the structure of the mouth changes around age 7 so it wouldn't be physically possible after that age but I personally chose 3 because that was when he was starting nursery school.

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Must be a cut off age somewhere, I've tried sucking on loads and loads of nipples and never got a drop out yet!

I ink that might just mean you are not persistent enough, isn't it possible to induce lactation with suction devices etc or have I imagined that?:o

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

I ink that might just mean you are not persistent enough, isn't it possible to induce lactation with suction devices etc or have I imagined that?:o

According to google it is possible and quite easy.

The only thing I can say in my defence, is that I'm not a machine and have to breathe sometimes.

FatVonD

lostinrates wrote: »

I ink that might just mean you are not persistent enough, isn't it possible to induce lactation with suction devices etc or have I imagined that?:o

You're thinking of 'The hand that rocks the cradle' and I believe I saw a programme once about an adoptive mother using breast pumps to induce lactation.

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

According to google it is possible and quite easy.

The only thing I can say in my defence, is that I'm not a machine and have to breathe sometimes.

Well, there you go. Nose breathing.

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

Well, there you go. Nose breathing.

This is not quite going the way I wanted it too.

I'm out, again!

Besides, women are the specialists at breathing through their nose and holding their breath, we men don't get enough practice.

Gillyx

I'm pretty sure there was a breast feeding programme and the parent was still breast feeding her 9 year old occasionally.

Gorgeestwo

lostinrates wrote: »

It's interesting onitself this became a brest v bottle question really, when the poor op who has disappeared, didn't ask that at all. The same question could be applied to the bottle really, if you'd let an able child drink out of bottle and sippy cup as they enter secondary school, if it isn't holding them back and they are healthy and happy....

That's exactly the point (for me anyway lol) my children didn't drink milk out of a bottle during the day or even at bedtime when they were over about 18mths, they were happy to drink out of a cup and so that's what they did. I personally don't like to see older toddlers (3, 4yrs old) using a bottle for any drink, but each to their own, as it is with regards to breast feeding and when to stop with that, so surely mothers who have bottle fed can also use the same argument as breast feeding mothers, that if the child needs it for comfort or nutrition then that's fine, but I can bet that there are a fair amount of breast feeding mothers out there that would find it 'unacceptable' (for want of a better word ) to see an older toddler drinking out of a bottle, even if it were just for bedtime and if this had been a question about when to stop giving a child a bottle, the answers (age related ones anyway ) would have been very different.

FatVonD

Gorgeestwo wrote: »

'unacceptable' (for want of a better word )

[/QUOTE]

Ah, g'wan, try 'abhorrent', I tried it once and I *think* I got away with it :eek:

poet123

FatVonD wrote: »

Since children need calcium throughout childhood I presume bottle feeding mothers still give their toddlers milk once they are past the bottle feeding stage. BF mothers (for whatever reasons) decided that they preferred breast milk for their children over formula and they too are continuing to provide their child with the calcium they need. I really don't see why anyone else should have a problem with it.

I'd actually be interested to know if the people that find the sight of a woman breastfeeding a toddler abhorent would feel the same if the milk was delivered via, say, a finger or whether their distaste is due to their own perception of breasts as being sexual objects that shouldn't be exposed in public.

Yes, my bottle fed children moved onto milk, but (genuine question)if you breastfeed do you not also give cow's milk (as a drink) to your children? If yes, then that would negate the calcium argument, if no, why is that?

My benchmark for change was capability milestones, so, once they were able to drink from a cup they no longer had a bottle, once they were capable of feeding themselves they did so. In fact I would find it just as babyish for a capable 2 year old to be having a bottle as I would that 2 year old being breastfed. Each to their own though.