Desparate Housewives & Breasteeding for a Very, Very Long Time
I usually watch Desperate Housewives (whenever they have a new episode, which seems to be very infrequent). I couldn't watch last night, but when I tuned into a morning radio show this morning, they were talking about the woman in Lynette's office that was breastfeeding a 5 year-old child.
The people calling into the radio show were so judgmental and said mothers who did this were sick and doing it for their own pleasure (Of course, the character on Desperate Housewives had selfish resons for breastfeeding, but I'm not talking about her specifically). The World Health Organization states:
A recent review of evidence has shown that, on a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants. Thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.
Personally, I couldn't picture offering my my breast to my 3 or 4 year old child, but who the heck am I to judge what people do based on what they believe is healthy for their child...especially when there is evidence of the benefits? Obviously, these people are objecting to the method of the delivery of breast milk (straight from the breast)...but most of those same people probably think the mother of a newborn should never breastfeed her newborn baby in public, like it's something to be ashamed of.
Don't we have something better to do than to villify mothers who do one of the most natural things in the world?
The people calling into the radio show were so judgmental and said mothers who did this were sick and doing it for their own pleasure (Of course, the character on Desperate Housewives had selfish resons for breastfeeding, but I'm not talking about her specifically). The World Health Organization states:
A recent review of evidence has shown that, on a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants. Thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.
Personally, I couldn't picture offering my my breast to my 3 or 4 year old child, but who the heck am I to judge what people do based on what they believe is healthy for their child...especially when there is evidence of the benefits? Obviously, these people are objecting to the method of the delivery of breast milk (straight from the breast)...but most of those same people probably think the mother of a newborn should never breastfeed her newborn baby in public, like it's something to be ashamed of.
Don't we have something better to do than to villify mothers who do one of the most natural things in the world?
posted by Alice at 3:39 PM
NEW! 
2 Comments:
I don't get it either. What any other Mom does, unless her behavior is abusive, is ok with me. We all love our kids and are doing the best we know how with the situation we're in, the parenting we received, our education, etc.
Interestingly, the *median* age of weaning worldwide is 4.2 YEARS. It's not accepted in our culture to breastfeed that long, but in some cultures you're a bad Mom if your 2 year old is weaned. Pakistan, for instance. In places like Norway and Italy, breastfeeding is expected and public breastfeeding is applauded.
When it comes to nursing an older toddler, I don't think any Mom starts out thinking she wants to nurse a 4 or 5 year old. When I was a teenager I thought breastfeeding was gross, but oddly enough, I knew if I had a kid I would do it because formula seemed nasty to me. So I decided not to have kids. LOL!
4 kids later..... never say never eh? ;)
If I could ask the previous poster, where did you find the data that 4.2 years is the average age to wean a child? I am not challenging you, just curious to read the article from which the information came.
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