Oh i co-slept with all four, it had nothing to do with a warm body , it had to do with Me and mom's body and what I wnated. I know my kids could have slept alone in their beds/cribs witout me, i just wanted them near me by me. I have to get over it though. Abraham is almost three. Shame on me!
I would not define a certain AGE as being inappropriate, but rather certain behaviour. A child who is "on the path towards weaning" is able to go long moments without nursing (hours and hours and days), is able to have sleepovers with grandparents or friends, without begging to nurse while away, is able to eat and drink normally, obviously, and is showing signs of gradually slowing down. That may not be a question of today he nursed 3x in a day and tomorrow or next week it's 2. It is more like "this year he is nursing an average of 3-6x a day when he is not ill, but next year he is nursing between 1-4x a day".
Any child that were NOT slowing down gradually, who was not showing signs of weaning such as I have described, would be a worry to me unless it were in a child who I already knew was mentally delayed somehow, or who had such severe physical problems that human milk was a necessity for them (I remember reading about a girl who was born missing most of her intestines, and who survived on human milk alone until she was 7 and they could operate and 'construct' a portion of intestine for her, and even with that, she continued getting human milk until she was about 11...in HER case it wasn't so matter a question of closeness with mom, since they had a lot of donor milk, but rather a question of her immediate health if she did NOT have human milk, and by 7 I think she was taking in all her milk in a cup or by tube or something since her mom had dried up and they had had to resort to exclusive donations). In the case of a "normal" child I would be expecting to see all the above types of comportments and if they were following along that type of path, it wouldn't matter what age the child was, b/c I know they would eventually wean. I have NEVER known of any child who nursed past 10, not even in my realm of "very extended BFing" although I know historically the Inuit did nurse until 12-13 sometimes. I think that might have had to do with a somewhat limited diet in the north. AFAIK it doesn't happen any more on a regular basis...but I could be wrong.
I don't think most "normal" 12-yo's would run home from school to nurse. I've never heard of one. MOST kids wean around 4-5yo. Some nurse longer, to 6, 7, 8...10 maybe. I have never heard of a specific 12yo but I have heard, historically (as I just mentioned in my last post) of Inuit nursing until 12-13...
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At eight i doubt that. So in your opinion is the logical reason to nurse a school aged child is b/c they want to and they will eventually outgrow it?
Edited 4/20/2007 11:49 pm ET by xenozany
A 12 year old is weird, i think it is weird < as in inappropriate> without logical reason! for a five year old to run home to nurse!
Edited 4/21/2007 12:03 am ET by xenozany
Edited 4/21/2007 12:13 am ET by xenozany
um no we are not talking about babies bums we are talking about children who have the ability to wipe their own bum and eat food without mom's breast.
It is not a need to allow a eight year old to nurse unless you as the mother want it!
There is no getting around that!
Edited 4/21/2007 12:19 am ET by xenozany
Typical!
Edited 4/22/2007 11:10 pm ET by xenozany
I would not define a certain AGE as being inappropriate, but rather certain behaviour. A child who is "on the path towards weaning" is able to go long moments without nursing (hours and hours and days), is able to have sleepovers with grandparents or friends, without begging to nurse while away, is able to eat and drink normally, obviously, and is showing signs of gradually slowing down. That may not be a question of today he nursed 3x in a day and tomorrow or next week it's 2. It is more like "this year he is nursing an average of 3-6x a day when he is not ill, but next year he is nursing between 1-4x a day".
Any child that were NOT slowing down gradually, who was not showing signs of weaning such as I have described, would be a worry to me unless it were in a child who I already knew was mentally delayed somehow, or who had such severe physical problems that human milk was a necessity for them (I remember reading about a girl who was born missing most of her intestines, and who survived on human milk alone until she was 7 and they could operate and 'construct' a portion of intestine for her, and even with that, she continued getting human milk until she was about 11...in HER case it wasn't so matter a question of closeness with mom, since they had a lot of donor milk, but rather a question of her immediate health if she did NOT have human milk, and by 7 I think she was taking in all her milk in a cup or by tube or something since her mom had dried up and they had had to resort to exclusive donations). In the case of a "normal" child I would be expecting to see all the above types of comportments and if they were following along that type of path, it wouldn't matter what age the child was, b/c I know they would eventually wean. I have NEVER known of any child who nursed past 10, not even in my realm of "very extended BFing" although I know historically the Inuit did nurse until 12-13 sometimes. I think that might have had to do with a somewhat limited diet in the north. AFAIK it doesn't happen any more on a regular basis...but I could be wrong.
Fio
I don't think most "normal" 12-yo's would run home from school to nurse. I've never heard of one. MOST kids wean around 4-5yo. Some nurse longer, to 6, 7, 8...10 maybe. I have never heard of a specific 12yo but I have heard, historically (as I just mentioned in my last post) of Inuit nursing until 12-13...
Fio
Yes. Because they want to, because they feel it is IMPORTANT to them, because at 8, they are able to objectively, logically, discuss it, etc.
Fio
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