Family Forum / Pregnancy / Breastfeeding / July 2005

Bah - just spent a while typing out a reply, hit the wrong button, and
lost it.  The gist was:

Firstly, hello and welcome to the group!

Secondly, it's perfectly OK to nurse for as long as you and your
daughter both want to.  Eventually either you will get tired of it or
she will, and that's the time to stop.  If you both want to keep
nursing, don't stop just because other people think you should.  If
you'd rather stop nursing, don't keep nursing just because your sister
says you should.  Whatever suits you and your daughter is the right
thing for you to do.

Thirdly, congratulations on nursing for two years!  Your daughter will
have had a very healthy start in life with all that mother's milk.  ;-)

All the best,

Sarah

I would nurse as long as both you and your child is happy with the
breastfeeding relationship.

My DD#1 self-weaned at 23 months....(I was 4 months pg with DD#2)

Nursed my oldest for 3.5 years and second child 2.5 years... They are both
lovely healthy adult women and my pedi from back in the day said it was
great that I let them wean themselves. I would have probably nursed longer
if the girls would have shown interest.

Jo

My DD (2.5 years old) still nurses once a day (at bedtime). We plan to
stop when she's ready.

As long as you and your DD are both still happy with b/fing, there's no
reason to wean.

Mary

G'day Isa

Sure is. DS would still be feeding now at 3 3/4 yrs except I'm 23 wks pg
and the milk is gone gone gone. Well he still tries, but only for a
count of 10 (because it's pretty unbearable for me), and occasionally is
extremely upset that it's all gone, but mostly when he would have bf he
will now just kiss my nipples. He is waiting for the day that mummy milk
will gush forth again and is hoping that Venus (the fetus) will share
some with him.

DrRuth
Mum to Joshua Eamon (Nov 15th, 2001)
<http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~drruth/joshua/>

I would think so!  Our daughter breastfed until she was 5 1/2 and our
son until he was almost 6.  (He actually had his 6th birthday on vacation
with us in Germany.  I came back "early" to go back to work.  :-(.  I
don't know if he has nursed since his birthday.

Larry

Sure -- your sister is right.  I am still BFing my 4yo son once a day at
bedtime.  Breastfeeding keeps your child healthy.  My son has been in day care
for 3 days a weeks since he was 2, so he has been exposed to lots of diseases,
but he has only needed antibiotics once in his life -- that was earlier this
year.  Breastfeeding improves intelligence -- and my son has taught himself to
read.

My mother and grandmother both had breast cancer, and I am hoping that
longtime BFing will protect me from it (it depends on which gene I have).

Oh -- and I have a bust!

As long as both of you are happy BFing, keep going.  It's great that your
sister is so encouraging.

Welcome Isabelle!  Until I joined this group I had no idea about
breastfeeding for so long, but now I think it's wonderful to feed as long as
the child wants to (and Mum is happy with that!).  You're so lucky to have
such an encouraging sister.  My DD has just turned 2 and I'm pregnant and
getting lots of family questions, 'Are you still feeding her!' etc. etc. I
find it really hard and try to explain to my parents and in-laws, but things
were do different for them and it's hard to convey to them the benefits.  DH
and I are living overseas (both sets of parents are in the UK and we're in
NZ) so we're free from too much pressure, but we're planning to return to
the UK next year, so it will be a different ball game!  I'm hoping that when
we return, and they see how healthy and happy DD is, they'll see for
themselves the virtue of extended breastfeeding.

Sarah