The fact that someone has to defend herself over breastfeeding her own child is absolutely ridiculous.
I personally won't be feeding Henry for anywhere near that long, but that's mainly due to the practicalities of breastfeeding once I'm back at work and also because it will be nice it have the odd cocktail and dairy product once in a while! Why people are so offended by a 5 year old still drinking breast milk is totally beyond me. Breastmilk is made for humans, it is perfectly suited to the needs of humans. Cows milk is perfectly suited to the needs of calves. Surely that is weirder?! A cow has 4 stomachs and eats grass...not all that similar to a human. One mum on a Facebook group was horrified by the thought of a 5 year old drinking breastmilk; her argument being that breastmilk was 'just for babies' and cows milk for adults. What bizarre logic. Since when do cows lactate for the needs of adults from a totally different species?! Another ridiculous argument that I read was that breast milk is no longer healthy after the age of 2. That is like saying that tomatoes have no health benefits past the age of 12.
Our society's attitude to breastfeeding is just so bizarre and I wish people weren't so judgemental about it. I know there are people that think Henry is too old to be exclusively breastfed and think we should have tried harder with the bottles. When I tell people about me cutting out all dairy because of Henry's allergy, so often their first reaction is to ask why I don't just put him onto formula. I know that many people who chose formula feeding for their baby say that they feel judged for not breastfeeding, but I have it say from my experience that it happens the other way around too. How we choose to feed our babies is our decision, no one else should even have an opinion on it.
At the end if the day no one is telling us to feed our babies until they're 5, it's just a choice one mother has made. How anyone can be offended by that is totally beyond me. I really wish we lived in a society where we weren't so judgemental about how others bring up their children, especially when it's with the best interests of the child at heart.
Our society's attitude to breastfeeding is just so bizarre and I wish people weren't so judgemental about it. I know there are people that think Henry is too old to be exclusively breastfed and think we should have tried harder with the bottles. When I tell people about me cutting out all dairy because of Henry's allergy, so often their first reaction is to ask why I don't just put him onto formula. I know that many people who chose formula feeding for their baby say that they feel judged for not breastfeeding, but I have it say from my experience that it happens the other way around too. How we choose to feed our babies is our decision, no one else should even have an opinion on it.
At the end if the day no one is telling us to feed our babies until they're 5, it's just a choice one mother has made. How anyone can be offended by that is totally beyond me. I really wish we lived in a society where we weren't so judgemental about how others bring up their children, especially when it's with the best interests of the child at heart.
Well said Bee. X
ReplyDelete