Breastfeeding Older Children (daycare, 1 year old, husband, friends)

[Dora Milaje]

Originally Posted by stormy night

I always try to embarrass women who are blantantly breastfeeding in public because it's offending.

How much time do you waste doing that as opposed to just averting your eyes? Please. I would point and laugh at you and encourage others to do the same, and I don't even have a kid.

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by Dora Milaje

How much time do you waste doing that as opposed to just averting your eyes? Please. I would point and laugh at you and encourage others to do the same, and I don't even have a kid.

just like I don't want to explain sex to my 7 and 4 year, neither do I want to explain this situation. How about covering up with a blanket? I wouldn't take my kids to a nude beach, why should this be allowed in public?

Maybe I should be allowed to **** on the trees in the park. It's natural after all.

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

Well spoken!

I agree with 2girlsand2boys --

She hasn't been insulting. She speaks from experience as a mother, and a good one at that!

so you know that she is a good mother because you know her personally? or is your judgement solely based on the fact that she breastfeeds?

And she makes a good point. People in our society get totally brainwashed into thinking something is wrong with extended breastfeeding.

Nothing wrong with it and the kids probably come out a lot better balanced than half the folks in our society!

ok

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by ADVentive

Yet you said that based on studies which you admit did not even mention extended breastfeeding though. On what are you basing your statement then? It is a huge leap and assumption, and you have not supported your conclusion that extended breastfeeding is even related at all to connections with a peer group. So until you can support that connection, studies showing what happens to kids who don't make connections with their peer group are completely irrelevant to this discussion.

and all these studies that show how positive breast feeding is usually use a 6 month cut off. it has benefits in the beginning, but after that, I think there are other factors at work. Is it breast milk vs formula or something else. what are the economic and social conditions of the children involved in the study. One study I just pulled up said that breast fed babies had less ear, respiratory and stomach infections. My kids had none of these and were formula fed. Why? Because my wife was on medications that could harm a baby. I think it is a great bonding time for mother and infant and what is probably best. But there is nothing wrong with today's formulas as an alternative.
Just cover up please. It's not something I want to explain to my children yet. And for the poster who's kid wouldn't cover up, find somewhere secluded then. Just like you wouldn't appreciate me whipping out my "little man" in front of your children, our children are taught that female breasts are private areas that are not exposed in public.

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by yodi

Wow, that is just cold hearted.

why is it coldhearted? if a guy whips out his member in public, is that o.k.?

[Dora Milaje]

Originally Posted by nrfitchett4

jMaybe I should be allowed to **** on the trees in the park. It's natural after all.

Maybe, but you can't. Quit crying about it and avert your eyes.

[TouchOfWhimsy]

Originally Posted by nrfitchett4

and all these studies that show how positive breast feeding is usually use a 6 month cut off.

Just like you wouldn't appreciate me whipping out my "little man" in front of your children, our children are taught that female breasts are private areas that are not exposed in public.

Ummm..... did you actually read the studies? Because they did NOT use a 6 month cut off.

And in our house, my children are taught that female breasts feed babies/toddlers. Which is the truth. *shrug*

[ADVentive]

Originally Posted by nrfitchett4

and all these studies that show how positive breast feeding is usually use a 6 month cut off. it has benefits in the beginning, but after that, I think there are other factors at work. Is it breast milk vs formula or something else. what are the economic and social conditions of the children involved in the study. One study I just pulled up said that breast fed babies had less ear, respiratory and stomach infections. My kids had none of these and were formula fed. Why? Because my wife was on medications that could harm a baby. I think it is a great bonding time for mother and infant and what is probably best. But there is nothing wrong with today's formulas as an alternative.

Actually, you must not have read the thread because we have been specifically discussing benefits of extended breastfeeding. The major health associations recommend breastfeeding for at least 2 years, not at least 6 months, and beyond for as long as mutually desired. They specifically cite no psychological damage due to nursing in the 3rd year and beyond. In addition, many of the breastfeeding studies show an additive effect of breastfeeding, meaning that the more breastfeeding (both in terms of age of child and amount of formula supplementation), the greater the benefit.

And I know I've said this many times in these threads, but the anecdotal evidence that your child was FF and had no ear infections is completely irrelevant. The mere fact that you offer it as evidence shows that you do not know how statistics works. The plural of anecdote is not data! But I'll break it down for you (again): Suppose that FF babies are twice as likely to experience ear infection in the first year than BF babies. Suppose that we have 100 FF babies and 100 BF babies. Now suppose that 66 FF babies had ear infections in the first year, and 33 BF babies did (FF have double the rate vs BF). Just because your baby was one of the 33 FF babies who didn't get an ear infection, and your 2nd cousin's BF baby was one of the 33 BF babies who did, does not in any way disprove the statistic. Statistics work on populations, not individuals.

Just cover up please. It's not something I want to explain to my children yet. And for the poster who's kid wouldn't cover up, find somewhere secluded then. Just like you wouldn't appreciate me whipping out my "little man" in front of your children, our children are taught that female breasts are private areas that are not exposed in public.

As for covering up because you don't want to explain to your children, 7 and 4, that humans are mammals? I think that's ridiculous. What would you tell them if they saw a mama dog nursing her pups? You tell them that mammals are defined as animals who nurse their young and are named for the mammary glands, and that humans are mammals too. It doesn't have anything to do with sex, it has everything to do with biology, and is not in any way inappropriate for children to know about. Make it a science lesson and get over it.

You are right that just because something is natural does not mean that we necessarily do it in public, ie having intercourse or urinating. However, feeding a baby is not in that category of things we don't do in public. If someone can feel comfortable bottle feeding her baby in public, then there is no reason why someone else should not be able to feel comfortable breastfeeding her baby in public too. If it makes you uncomfortable, that is your issue, not the mom's.

[Cindy15161]

Originally Posted by Movie Lover

I read recently how a woman in Louisiana was still breastfeeding her son at 18.

Now that would really creep me out!

[Cindy15161]

Originally Posted by AONE

my first reaction was ewww. but when I see mom in action it seems just fine and they all seem well balanced. If it works, why question it. maybe that is the problem with the rest of us... weened too early or never did.

Well 8 maybe? Another poster said mom was still breast feeding when he was 18! That is just too weird!