A culture of silliness about breastfeeding

I don't understand the fuss made about breast feeding. It's hard to imagine why anyone would object to seeing a small child being given sustenance and nourishment by its mother! And if mother and child are happy to continue for an extended period, good on them, I say!

Breast feeding advice can seem dictatorial, but research as shown that if a mother wants to successfully breast feed, then it's better if no artificial feed or teat is introduced. No one forces anyone to do it!

As for guilt - well if it's not breast feeding, we'll soon find something else to feel guilty about!

Iam64 you have summed up my views perfectly. If toddlers who are articulate cannot learn to wait for some quiet time with mum then they won't be able to wait for anything else. Of course babies should be fed when they are hungry.

When DS2 was born he had to go into SCBU and I was sent home. I expressed my milk so that I would still have some for him when they let him come home. One day I explained the situation to DS1, then only 21 months, likening my milk to cow's milk and telling him where that came from. He pottered off and obviously thought about it because he came back a bit later, put his head round the door, looked at me and said, 'Cow?'

Made me smile, jessm and bags, great examples of delayed gratification. What polite and much loved children they sound.

My friend's little girl would say: "Thank you, mother sheep" when she'd had her drop of milk . I very much doubt if her polite 'demands' for milk were a problem in public.

I remember when GS1 was nearly two asking for milk (using sign language as well as his approximation to the word milk) and DD saying: you don't need milk now, but I'll give you a cuddle. He had stopped asking by the time he was just two.

I always remember the 3 year old girl who said "Mummy, is it a good time for me and you to have a little lie down"

I love your 'baby police' comment seasider. I fed my children in all kinds of places, no one ever made an unpleasant comment. I always smile when I see babes being breast fed in cafe's, parks etc. BF on demand is perfect for babies but after reading seasider's comment about toddlers, I've realised that my attitude to bf toddlers is similar to giving them anything else on demand. If they can run about, and make their wishes known, they can begin the life long learning about delayed gratification. (as they say on mumsnet - dons tin hat, and hides behind barricades)

Certainly worth 5 mins. Jess. Good for Hollie McNish.

I know this is odd but though I have no problem with people breast feeding babies in public ( did it myself and always managed it discreetly) I do feel uncomfortable seeing older toddlers still being fed. Feeling so sorry for friend's daughter whose new baby struggling to breastfeed. Poor girl has been told to express but under no circumstances to use a bottle and she must try and get baby to lap the milk somehow! She is exhausted.The baby police have a lot to answer for!

My grandmother used to tell me about the time she had to take my mother on a train. She was in a compartment with a strange gentleman and, of course, pretty soon my mother was hungry. She managed to swathe herself in a scarf and hide the baby under it. When she had finished the gentleman leant forward and said "That was very beautifully done my dear" This was in 1918 and if a man could manage not to have the vapours then why are we still having problems now?

Just remembered there was a little lad with learning difficulties who used to call round to our house daily (he loved dogs and our dog and was allowed to roam the streets! He could tell me the name of nearly all the dog breeds in the Observer's book of dogs, normally when he visited he only focussed on our dog). One day he suddenly noticing me feeding DS2. Imagine a broad Lancashire accent if you would...
"Eeeee - what's 'e doing to you?"

Brilliant poem - thanks Jess.
Sums it all up very well. Dd in China has a 'cover-up' which she uses when in public not because she is embarrassed but because the Chinese are very curious and do rather invade personal space !

Very good.

in case any of you missed this last week, worth 5 minutes:
www.closeronline.co.uk/2013/07/british-mum-silences-breastfeeding-critics-with-passionate-poem

DD had problems with breast feeding both DGS's she fed them totally expressed milk. I admired the fact she would happily carry on a conversation with her dad whilst doing so ! Don't think I could have in front of my dad.

It's difficult to believe that this is still an issue for some people after all these years. My mama would rather have walked barefoot than be seen breast-feeding in front of anyone, including, probably, my father. I, on the other hand, had absolutely no problem about it, although I was always fairly discreet. (Well, I say that, but I was like a garden sprinkler for about a year, so discretion was relative.) However, I had friends who felt uncomfortable breast-feeding in public or being with another mother doing so. By the time absentdaughter's turn came along, she and her contemporaries were completely relaxed about it. What ever is the matter with people? Is it our very sexually oriented society so that even people who should know better, such as a headmistress, automatically associate breasts primarily with sexuality rather than nutrition.

I hope so. The woman was doing nothing wrong so why make a fuss? That's all the story is about really.

No doubt she's regretting it now!

And re the blog story, the HT was being provocative! If she'd carried on as if nothing were amiss, the children would have too. Sounds as if the children did anyway. Silly woman to draw attention to something that could have been ignored.

So, I think I'm saying that to bf a 'toddler' is within the norm, whatever the norm is.

galen, my friend thought that the taste of colostrum must be different and that's why the child went off it. Seems plausible.

DGD feeds easily from a cup! Still wants 'mummy milk' although it's actually colostrum at the moment!
I think it's a comfort thing!
She doesn't like dolls. Is not interested in the coming sister.
Now, if mummy was giving birth to a helicopter!
She'd be delighted?

It isn't any different, jane. But there are no set times for these changes and when children achieve the progressions is very variable. I'm talking about pre-school kids. Of my own acquaintance, the latest weaning was at about three and a half. The child was just having a wee suck now and again. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I guess the age of weaning is culturally determined, as is the age of discarding nappies and using the toilet. In China, where nappies aren't used at all, I was momentarily taken aback to see a little boy having a massive pooh right on the Great Wall, to applause from his relatives!

DD says its colostrum!