Breast Feeding Six Year Olds: Comforting or Creepy?

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Anonymous
totally biologically normal.

This was my take on the whole thing:
http://custommademilk.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/2020s-extreme-breastfeeding-episode/
Posted 01/03/2009 6:45 PMReply
Anonymous
The official statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics states that there is "no upper limit" to breastfeeding and no evidence of psychological harm to children who nurse into the third year and beyond. The American Academy of Family Physicians states in its official policy statement on breastfeeding that weaning a child before the age of 2 increases that child's risk of illness. Breastfeeding should continue until the child outgrows the need - which occurs earlier in some children and later in others. There is no harm in continued breastfeeding, especially for children ages 2 and 3 - it is the human biological norm. Six may be culturally unusual but that doesn't make it harmful. It seems to be working for this family and these children - why not leave them alone? I wonder why ABC chose a family nursing a six-year-old to profile - it seems to me it is just trying to be provacative. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for a minimum of 2 years, and "as long thereafter as mutually desired." If all mothers followed this advice, our culture would be a lot healthier. No one raises an eyebrow when a young child holds on to the pacifer for a long time - a piece of plastic that confers no immune benefits or extra nutrition. Children take a pacifer because they still need to suck for nutrition and comfort well into toddlerhood. Our culture needs to grow up and stop looking at the breast as a strictly sexual object and get real about children's needs. Research on a natural human weaning age is at :http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html. Posted 01/04/2009 12:09 PMReply
Anonymous
In the West, it is unusual to see breastfeeding of older children-- four, five, six-years old. But if it's creepy, the creepiness is in the eye of the beholder, as there is nothing wrong or harmful in the practice. It's such a rare practice, I wonder why ABC bothered to raise it as an issue in the first place. Posted 01/18/2009 1:45 PMReply
Anonymous
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Posted 11/13/2009 7:46 PMReply

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