Comments on: Nursing Too Long

By: Carllie

Carllie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:44:57 +0000

I am still nursing my son who turned 2 in August. I have tried to tell him that the milk is all gone and to quit but I eventually give in and let him nurse. I dont think it is a bad thing to nurse a toddler, but I know that other people view it as weird. I see nothing wrong with it. There is such a strong bond between me and my baby and I was his food for so long, it was all he ever knew. I think he will quit when he is ready to.

By: Lam

Lam — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:20:55 +0000

I nursed my older son until he was almost 2 and continue to nurse my 19 m/o with no weaning plan in sight. While I'm no lactivist, I do nurse quite openly. This brazen public habit of mine has never been met with a single sideways glance nor snide comment even though I'm in a fairly conservative area were extended nursing is rare and public extended nursing is rarer yet. I've often suspected it's because I'm Asian and they see me as having gone "native" or something...that perhaps a comment on my nursing would be construed as a racially charged judgment defying the rules of political correctness. I find that rather comical!

By: Heather @ Not a DIY LIfe

Heather @ Not a DIY LIfe — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:50:45 +0000

I know that nursing my 19 month old weirds people out, especially my sister who is expecting her first child in May. I know she plans to nurse, but "not for 2 years like Heather." What I haven't told my family is that I plan to practice child-led weaning and let Ladybug be done when she's done, not the other way around. I enjoy nursing so much, I know that I'll be sad when she's done. But I try to encourage moms, especially new moms, to make a breastfeeding goal and stick to it. They might find that it's going so well and they enjoy it so much that they'll extend that goal. that's what i did. My goal was 12 months. But why stop just because we turn a page on the calendar?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:13:32 +0000

I encourage women to shoot for a year as a good goal. That’s what I did with my first and ended up weaning around 2ish. If people give the “when they’re old enough to ask for it, they’re too old” clique, I tell people that according to anthropology studies, most mammals wean when their back molars come in–which is 5 years old in humans. Don’t quote me–research for yourself.

Makes a toddler nursing not seem so odd.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:01:26 +0000

I totally agree with your comment that “I didn’t wake up one morning and think ‘hmmm, I should try nursing a 3 year old.” LOL! I remember seeing women nurse their toddlers and thinking it was weird, but then when you become a mom one day just turns into the next.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:56:29 +0000

I don’t (and didn’t) find extended nursing off putting at all. I found it very encouraging, especially while I was going through what I did with Aaron, to know that it CAN be done and that problems with nursing CAN be overcome and it gave me hope that someday we would figure it all out and have a good nursing relationship. It was nice to know that some moms kept going even though it wasn’t always easy.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:48:42 +0000

I agree. I’m sure a lot of people deliberately stop breastfeeding their child just because it is not culturaly acceptable. To me it seems much easier to carry on until the child chooses to stop rather than go through the trauma of stopping them before they’re done. I can’t say that the concept of extended nursng put me off at all — in the early days when it was hard I just aimed for four months in my head and by the time I got to four months I felt tlike I could carry on indefinitely.