Sebastien and the Milk Bar 

Thanks for hopping over from  Quite Frankly She Said and welcome to my post for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt Day 5 Extended Breastfeeding we have over £700 worth of breastfeeding and baby goodies up for grabs including prizes from More4Mums providing a set of ‘Hot Milk’ Lingerie, a signed hardback limited edition copy of Milky Moments and a £30 voucher from Milk Chic Full details of the Grand Prize can be found here and all entries to be completed via the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

*Extended breastfeeding.*

What does it mean? To some it means past 6 weeks. To others it is 6 months, and according to the WHO it is to at least the age of 2.

I prefer to call it “term” breastfeeding. As in, your child will determine when they are ready to stop. This is usually from age 3 and up.

Photo source
3! 3 years old. I hear you exclaim.

Well yes. 3, 4, hell, maybe even 7!

I really hear you! A few years ago, I’d be saying the exact same thing!

I always wanted to breastfeed. My mum breastfed my siblings and I. It is the natural thing to do (you can see my very first day as a breastfeeding mama Here)

But, breastfeeding once baby has teeth? I was never going to do that. “Ugh”
Breastfeeding a baby that can crawl over to you and pull your top down and latch on by themselves, regardless of whether it’s convenient for mama. Nope. I wouldn’t be that crazy hippy.
“If he can ask for it, he’s too old for it”

Once he has teeth, you’ll soon stop.

You’re just doing it for you now, he doesn’t “need” it.

Omg. He’s STILL breastfeeding?

 

 

Yes. Yes he is. But he’s only 14 months old.

We’ve had some major wobbles, there have been many many times that I could happily have stopped.

Fighting through nursing aversions when my husband is away on Operations, (the joys of army life) and feeling utterly alone. The resentment because I can’t have a day off without needing to pump, the sadness because we’re TTC and it just isn’t happening, and everyone is pointing at the fact that I’m still breastfeeding.

Gingerly latching Sebastien on to a nipple that has recently been bitten so hard, it needed gluing (that wasn’t an awkward gp visit at all!) “yeah, I’ll stop when he has teeth”


Nope. 14 months on. We’re still here. And you know what? We don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

The benefits of continuing to breastfeed are immense, not just for Sebastien , but also for myself.

Google image 

Having recently had a scare with a lump in my breast, the lower risk of cancer is somehow reassuring. I was pretty sure the lump was nothing. And I was right. It still scared me though!

Right now I have a beautiful outgoing little boy, he is so very sociable, happy, lively and loving. He is a “snuggly” baby. A joy to mother. He is self assured, but when the day gets too much, he nuzzles content on my breast and all is right with the world once again. Why would I give up HIS comfort and nutrition? I just wouldn’t. At least not for a while yet.

What would you consider extended breastfeeding? How long did/have you breastfed for?
*Edit* (3/08/2016) 1 year in since writing this post. Sebastien weaned at 18.5 months. He weaned because I was pregnant with Vivienne.(20 weeks pregnant when he actually weaned, so the irony is, when I wrote this post about TTc, we were actually already pregnant!)  I’m still gutted we didn’t make it to 2 years of breastfeeding. 
For more extended breastfeeding experiences please hop on over to  My Little L where you can gain further entries into the grand prize draw. Full terms and conditions can be found on the Keeping Britain Breastfeeding website. UK residents only.
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