What age to stop breastfeeding?

Nyan Cat wrote: »

I can see why it'd be potentially an issue if a bloke is sucking/nibbling on his girls breasts during foreplay, then has a flashback of being at his mothers breast at the age of 3 - at the very least it'd kill the mood at that point in time but he might also have trouble looking the girl in the eyes after that
Same with a woman having hers played with.

That aside- I do remember hearing about the suggestion that if you breast feed too long you might be building the child's immune system but you also prevent them from encountering bacteria you naturally find in food - I recall a suggestion about it actually creating a weaker immune system in the long run (were talking 4 years or something )

I do not know where that info came from I just remember it being brought up when a cousin of mine was breast fed till 5 or so.

I don't know if theres truth in that but it's food for thought!

Generally its not an either/or choice. The weaning period will see the child consuming food and breast milk in varying ratios. Anyone I've know that has breastfed beyond 1 yrs just elongated this period. It was never a case of a 2 yr old exclusively on milk
Oh, and for the teenagers saying its gross, the WHO recommend exclusive breast feeding for the six first months and mixed feeding until at least two years of age.

iguana wrote: »

There is a big difference between seeing breasts and remembering suckling on them. I have loads of memories of seeing my mother feed my brothers or of hand expressing milk, I don't think that's at all the same as remembering my own mouth around her nipples.

And no we don't find breasts sexual because of hype and taboo, the hype and taboo began because they are also sex organs. I, along with many women, can orgasm easily from breast play, I certainly get wet within seconds of having my breasts played with (right). They are primarily for feeding our young but they do have a sexual function too and it is no less important than the fact that we can not only talk using our tongue but also taste and kiss with it.

In recent years a lot of time and effort has been spent rightly reminding people of the primary function of breasts. But to do so by ignoring the secondary functions is ridiculous.

Fair enough. Working as a child minder I see children's butts every day and I don't feel it interferes with my ability to appreciate my Other Half's ass, which I also find cute but in a completely different way. You're breastfeeding a three year old not a twenty three year old. Most people should be able to compartmentalise when a person's body is used for sexual gratification or not, or at least they would if there wasn't such a big deal made about it. Say an Obstetrician looking at a woman's genitals? A parent giving an older child a bath? Wiping their bum? Breastfeeding is a lot less intimate (even sexual) than either of those examples. What about the scores of countries where women's breasts can be visible to other men and children, eg beaches in Europe, and people can see it without getting turned on. I really think linking something as normal as breastfeeding and sexual hangups in later life is making a huge leap of speculation that is not based on fact.

Dudess wrote: »

But the question is, what age should it stop?

Obviously there is no arbitrary cut off point but what's works for the child would be a good guide. Personally I think most children would wean later than our culture currently dictates and I think this is due to a lack of support for mothers and a large amount of misinformation and fear surrounding breastfeeding.

GarIT wrote: »

I think you are forgetting this is After Hours, what realm did you think you were in?

The Demon Realm... you mean I'm not?

iguana wrote: »

I was out of nappies completely by 54 weeks ......

I remember trying to come up with an excuse as to why I was behind the couch and then the absolute terror as I realised that the person in the door was a garda and the fear I would have to go to jail, followed by the shock and betrayal that the garda* was actually my uncle. I remember wondering is he was ever my uncle at all and had been setting me up all my life.......

I was 15 months old but I remember it every bit as well as my wedding day or my first kiss or what I ate for lunch today.

I doubt there are many people who were as advanced as you were. I've never known a 15 month old who would be able to mentally process that to that extent let alone the concept of being set up but I suppose then nobody knows what 15 month old toddler really thinks about their life situations other than people with your memory skills. The fact that you had control over your bodily functions at such a young age might go hand in hand with the enhanced memories.

At 16 months my eldest boy was a complete baby in some ways with few verbal skills but my friend's 16 month old girl could answer the phone, pick out who you were and give a full run down of her mother's whereabouts and what she herself was doing. It was like gossiping with a friend.

Truley wrote: »

Fair enough. Working as a child minder I see children's butts every day and I don't feel it interferes with my ability to appreciate my Other Half's ass, which I also find cute but in a completely different way. You're breastfeeding a three year old not a twenty three year old. Most people should be able to compartmentalise when a person's body is used for sexual gratification or not, or at least they would if there wasn't such a big deal made about it. Say an Obstetrician looking at a woman's genitals? A parent giving an older child a bath? Wiping their bum? Breastfeeding is a lot less intimate (even sexual) than either of those examples. What about the scores of countries where women's breasts can be visible to other men and children, eg beaches in Europe, and people can see it without getting turned on. I really think linking something as normal as breastfeeding and sexual hangups in later life is making a huge leap of speculation that is not based on fact.

As I've already really clearly stated, it's not about seeing breasts, so that has nothing to do with it. It is about being able to remember your own mouth around your mother's nipple. That is completely and utterly different.

Yes breastfeeding is natural, absolutely 100%. Breastmilk is utterly phenomenal, I intend feeding all of my children that way and if possible I would also like to donate milk to the collection centre in Fermanagh as the health benefits of it are absolutely enormous. And we as mammals should be doing it, it's what we evolved to do.

However, uniquely among mammals, our breasts also have a sexual function. There are number of theories as to why. One is that as people who's young require a lot of minding from more than one person, it suits our species to mate for very extended time periods. As such we don't just attract mates when fertile. In general we attract each other, establish a relationship and eventually breed. So our breasts are bigger and fuller regardless of our fertility at that given day. There is also the theory that as bipeds our cleavage grew to imitate the enlarged buttocks which some primates and monkeys use to attract mates. But regardless of why it happened, it has happened. Human breasts are also sexual and I know from my own perspective that as ok as I am with having seen my mother's breasts quite a bit when I was a kid and even the time I was 15 and walked in on my parents having a romantic bath together, I'm really glad I have no memory of actually drinking from my mother's breast because it's not the same.

Because of that, my preference is to breastfeed up to a point where my child won't remember his/herself being fed and supplement thereafter by giving them a cup of my milk instead of a cup of cows' milk and by putting my milk in their cereal/risks/etc. If I have a weak supply I'll have to rethink that plan and I'm also hoping that if labour/birth/early months go smoothly enough, to get pregnant again reasonably quickly after this one, so I may have the needs to a second baby to consider as well.

up for anything wrote: »

You're so behind the times. :rolleyes: That was AH a few years ago... now it's all about social welfare, politics and the price of petrol.

Boobs are not social welfare, politics or the price of petrol? Yeah AH isn't the same as when I joined. Although I would still see the humor of blasting a feeding mother with piss or milk or whatever is handy.

GarIT wrote: »

Boobs are not social welfare, politics or the price of petrol? Yeah AH isn't the same as when I joined. Although I would still see the humor of blasting a feeding mother with piss or milk or whatever is handy.

Boobs are social welfare. It only needs a few more posts before the talk of breastfeeding segues into a nanny state rant.

You've got the blasting with milk the wrong way round too.

iguana wrote: »

Yeah I do think all kids are different. I'm just guessing that if I was that way and my brothers were that way, then there is a decent chance my kids will be that way. I guess that if, when my baby reaches 8/9 months, my mother or father ever says, 's/he is just like you at that age,' I'll know it'll be time to start weaning.

But why would you think that such memories might have an adverse affect on your children. Perhaps they would be memories to treasure of a comforting time and easily separated from future sexual feelings and doings as they would in no way have sexual connotations. I really think that the memory of being warm, comfortable, feeding and the security of being so close to one of the most important people in your life would trump the OMIGOD, what I'm doing now reminds me of my mother resulting in limp dickitis.

Cherrycola wrote: »

But once a child is consuming solids isnt it possible for them to receive all the necessary nutrients they need from that food?!

No it isn't, there are substances in breast milk that just aren't in any other food.

Are they missing out on other important minerals and vitamins if their diet still continues to be mostly breast millk?

Yes and no. It appears that even an adult can thrive on a diet of nothing but breast milk. But it's not realistic that everyone can just consume breast milk all their lives so we have to make the change over. But ideally that change over should be made in stages. At about 6 months you start a baby on eating small amounts of food but still continue to feed them mainly on breast milk, slowing increasing the food and reducing the milk for about another 18 months.

Surely the reason we develop teeth is to aid us in the first stage of digestion of solid food, a natural progression from breast milk?

Yes, it's enough for us to begin to eat solid food but it's a process that should be done in stages.

I would think that 6mths or even a year of breast milk is enough to lay down that magical immune system they keep talking about, will breastfeeding for another 2 years add anything more?

Scientific findings completely disagree with what you think. Children should ideally consume breast milk until about 2, maybe longer.

Same goes for the intelligence factor, though i actually dont agree with those studies myself, it may have links to intelligence but its not the elixir of life that its made out to be.
Some breast fed babies will grow up to be stupid, and some formula fed babies will be geniuses, so what happens there? Did breastfed baby get a bad batch?! Or are there other elements involved which contribute to brain development, intelligence and ability to achieve greatness other than what we ate as an infant?! :rolleyes:

Of course breast milk isn't going to magically make a baby into a mensa qualifier, that's mainly genetics. But environmental factors also contribute to intelligence and one of those factors is breast milk. Breast milk increases intelligence, so whatever you started out with is made that bit better by being breastfed correctly.