I don’t get why people get so wound up about breastfeeding. If it suits you, do it until the kid’s seven. If it’s not for you, don’t do it at all.
I breastfed my three kids for six months. Pretty much on the knocker. Sorry.
I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it, but I was blessed with big, healthy babies. So when I was ready to wind down supply, I spoke to the local clinic sister about the best way to go about it. Her reaction couldn’t have been more dramatic if I’d decided to put my son on eBay.
‘But why would you want to deny bubby your magical milk?’ she said.
‘Well,’ I replied, ‘Because I would like to drink wine again and stop wearing bras designed by NASA.’
‘Right.’ Her lips became not dissimilar to a cat’s bum and she handed me some leaflets. I was on my own, clearly.
At the other end of the spectrum is Tracy Moore, who’s rarely alone. She’s still breastfeeding her toddler, for the most part happily, but sometimes she feels weird. And she feels weird for feeling weird. This is what Tracy wrote for Jezebel:
“The other morning after I finished nursing my 21-month-old baby, she sat up and smiled, looked me in the eye and said in a tiny little happy baby voice: “Tink you, mommy.” Awww, you’r e welcome, sweets — wait, what did you say? Uh, is this weird?
….
Strangely, now that I’m the one with the toddler who’s drinking from my still-open-for-business boobs, it is the uneasiness that seems absurd. I started out figuring I’d nurse for a year, but that year blew right by, and it was obvious baby very much still needed and wanted the comfort. And with all the research pointing to sustained benefits the longer you do it, before you know it, boom — you’re nursing a toddler, two years and counting. Hang on, I think I hear The Lifestyle Channel calling.
Not like you didn’t already have enough weird, judgy parenting shit to deal with, but yay, now it’s not just whether you nurse and whether you like it but how long you do it for — and don’t forget to feel bad about where, you human gargoyle.”
Kate Hunter is an advertising copywriter with 20 years experience and hundreds of ads under her belt. She’s also written two novels for young readers: Mosquito Advertising, The Parfizz Pitch and Mosquito Advertising, The Blade Brief. You can visit Kate’s website here or follow her on twitter here.
How did you make the decision to stop breastfeeding? Or did someone else decide for you?
Top Comments
I don't think that a parent should leave it up to the child to 'choose' when to stop breast feeding, because it will continue way beyond the point when it it beneficial to either the mother or the child. As a psychologist, I see the child of my friend, still breast feeding at 5.5 years, and no plans on stopping. I see that the child is slow to reach significant stages in her development when compared to her peers. When she is asked to follow basic instructions, or told that she can't do something, she refers back to her mother's breast for comfort. It seems that her mother continues to breast feed in order to feel needed by her daugher, rather than finding other things in her life that give her purpose and meaning also. I can see this situation comming to head- a mother who will have a hard time adjusting to life when her daugher grows up and no longer needs her, and sadly her daughter will not have the strategies to deal with the trials and troubles of everyday life.
I fed my first until she wasn't interested anymore, which was at thirteen months. I weaned my second at eighteen monhs, because I was over it and wanted to return to the regular pill.
After a month of being weaned, she's pretty much obsessed with nipples, repeating mmm boobies, frequently and pointing them out wherever she gets a glimpse, including men's underwear packets in the supermarket. I never imagined that at 18 months I'd be weaning her too soon.
Breast feeding is hard to start and hard to stop, for at least one person on either side of the activity. If it's not a happy place for both of you, then it's not worth it. Irrespective of what our mothers/health nurses/ self proclaimed experts tell us, bottle fed babies grow up into healthy children too. There are plenty of other things in life to cause us grief, so breastfeeding shouldn't be added to the list.