Extended Breastfeeding
So I thought I was pretty open minded about extended breastfeeding, but it turns out I had some biases too. I was at a neighbor’s house and her 7yo son came in and asked for milk. My neighbor said, “You don’t mind, do you?” and I thought she was asking if I minded if she went to the kitchen to get him some milk. Turns out her son wanted to nurse. Of course I still didn’t mind, it’s their house and they can do what they want, but I found it unusual. Then her 10yo daughter stuck her head in and said, “I’m next!”
Obviously every family can make the decision for themselves how long to breastfeed, but this seems so strange to me. I would never express this to this family, it is none of my business, but in my head I admit I think it’s weird. They also have a 12yo daughter and I wonder if she still nurses too.
Do you think there’s an age limit for nursing? Personally I don’t think I would nurse past 5yo and even that seems a bit old to me.
ETA: I’m not trying to get anyone to mom shame, this is a legitimate question. I was taken aback because this is a family I’ve lived near for a long time, but we’ve only become close since my daughter was born, so I’ve never spent time at their house before and they obviously don’t breastfeed in public. I know there are cultures that breastfeed to 4-5yo and I can’t find any information online about what is universally considered a cutoff age. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to ask her about it and it’s obviously a bit of a taboo subject so I wanted to see what a breastfeeding community made of it.
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