I don’t despise women for not showing their breasts, I despise what the ‘Hooter Hider’ says: that what you’re doing is so wrong, so gross, so backwards that it must be hidden. Tents draw attention to a nursing baby, announce it, mark it, and make the act seem abnormal.

I can certainly nurse and not show my breasts, and so can most women with a little practice and confidence. I’m all for whatever will keep women nursing, and get them nursing someplace other than a back room, a car, or in a public restroom.

However, the very idea that women are persuaded to purchase these items says far more about what we *really* think of nursing women as a culture than it simply being a modesty issue.

Heavens.

And my nursery-aged child still nurses.

The American Academy of Pediatrics site states that “Although breastfeeding _initiation_ rates have increased steadily since 1990, exclusive … breastfeeding rates have shown little or no increase over the same period of time.” http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/feb05breastfeeding.htm

Is it any wonder that they are fighting an uphill battle? Robyn Paul (the subject of the ABC piece) may be an exception (or maybe she’s just gutsy…), but as this discussion highlights, one person’s 5 year-old is another person’s 15 month-old, so the issues here are germane to the broader discourse on breastfeeding, even of very young infants. When loaded, often critical words pepper almost every non-medical discussion of the topic, it’s easy to see why the rates of something so important and so beneficial increase so slowly, even with all we know. (“Abnormalcy” “unusual” “discretion” “alarm” “attack” “offending” are just a few from this discussion, admittedly out of context, but still…)

What should really get us up in arms is not an individual mother who nurses longer than the squeamish masses can handle and worrying about whether her son will be messed up by the experience, but the millions of mamas who don’t have the broad societal (or even, alas, familial) support they need to breastfeed their babies for even the minimum amount of time we know will make a long-term difference. Instead of judging the mom we’re convinced is an aberration, how about making sure we are never part of any vibe that might ever keep even one mom from breastfeeding (whether for a single feeding or at all). Smile at every nursing mom you notice and advocate for breastfeeding support at your workplace or place of business, not to mention in your family. It matters!

I must admit that until I had my own kids I was one of those “If they can ask for it then they’re too old to nurse! people. But I ended up nursing my first son until his 4th birthday (after nursing him through my 2nd pregnancy and tandem nursing him and his preemie brother for a year). And I nursed #2 well past his 4th birthday. I didn’t set out to nurse either so long but followed my instincts and the needs of each child, with full support of my wonderful husband. And I have no regrets–just lots of very sweet (and often hilarious) memories. And when my boys are fathers, I feel confident that the memories that will return for them will be of feeling safe and nurtured and loved and that they will want to support their wives in offering the same for their babies, for however long is best for each one.

To be clear: I’m firmly in the nursing toddler camp.

What you should be asking yourselves is when did it become weird to nurse a Kindergartner? Not as long ago as you might think.

My grandparents remember kindergartners who used to go home to nurse. It’s in LIVING MEMORY! What, exactly, happened in the past 50 years that makes nursing children so strange? So strange, in fact, that child protective services have been set on mothers of nursing preschoolers?

The average age of worldwide weaning is 4, and for that to be average, how far into childhood must nursing go in some locales?

And if you’re going to wonder about the psychological harm of nursing into childhood, you’d have to consider the psychological harm of forcing plastic mother-substitutes, like pacifiers and bottles, into babies mouths at ever younger ages. See how silly that argument sounds when you turn it around?

Some children still suck their thumb well into childhood, which is a straight out exchange for a child who probably would have been still nursing. There’s a reason why children’s first set of teeth are called ‘milk teeth’ not because you stop nursing when they come, but you stop nursing when they fall out.

Look, would I personally nurse a school child? Probably not. Do I care if someone else does? Of course not. Their child will probably be healthier, have fewer allergies, a better immune system than my kids, and probably more emotionally secure; it’s a trade off that every family makes when they decide when, if, and how long to nurse.

I just think it’s funny that something that is so culturally specific, so culturally proscriptive, rifles so many feathers when it’s done in a different way.

I don’t even want to touch the RS nursing thing because you can probably guess how I feel (here’s a hint: I despise ‘Hooter Hiders’ and I’d sooner ask my husband if I was allowed to wear shoes than if I was allowed to nurse in the RS room.)

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20090105/cx_ss_uc/ss20090105;_ylt=Av4YCZX9lFUfzjQnLRy4FlqcocwF

Also, I did not say that there were no benefits of breast milk after a child has started on solids. I only wondered if it is necessary.

And in my mum’s defense, I suppose she was lucky that none of her kids had teeth in just a few months, which is why she chose teething/biting as the time to begin weaning.

All that being said, I am not saying that I was not wrong. Just clarifying some points.

And on a side note, I would argue that if alanna (#30) were married to a Cullen and her doctor were Carlisle, he’d prolly encourage weaning way earlier than 4 months!