Breastfeeding

Okay, so firstly I resisted the urge to have the title of this as 'extended breastfeeding'. This is the common term in this country for feeding beyond, what, six months or a year? I'm not sure when it begins to apply, but I realise I have a problem with the term. It implies that feeding a child is not natural or normal beyond a certain (very young) age. It implies that feeding a child up to the age that the NHS and the Department of Health recommend is beyond what should be expected. It's two years for the DoH, in case you didn't know. To end my gripe, I think the current terms of 'breastfeeding' and 'extended breastfeeding' should be changed to 'breastfeeding'.

Anyway, I have just read an interesting article about breastfeeding which triggered this post. I shall share it at the end, but it is about breastfeeding older children. I will preface it by saying that I never thought about breastfeeding before we did it - I just assumed that that was how things would go down. It has been my best parenting tool - to soothe anxiety, fears and pains and crankiness...to provide nutrition when solid food hurts...to help the little one with sleep when insomnia threatens...and simply as a place of security and bonding to make my child feel safe and confident. I never thought about when we'd end or wean, but assumed it would happen by a year. It didn't and so far he's showing no sign of quitting. As it stands, I'm not yet at the place where I have any idea how or when we'll stop. He's so far from being ready to quit!

Anyway, so, about this very interesting article I read. If you're going to read this, try reading with an open mind. I found I struggled a little with some of the ideas, and then I felt sad that something natural and normal should feel odd to me because of my societal hangups. Feeding until six years old is definitely not something I plan for (but there's a lot I didn't plan for that we're doing as parents) and I agree with the author that if there is one thing I have learned as a parent, it's "never say never."

Breastfeeding at six? What's so weird about that?