The Banzai Chronicles

hello, old chap!

Hello, stranger—it's good to be back!

There's a boy who looks way too old to be breastfeeding suckling at his mother's teet here at the coffeeshop.

What do you consider to be "too old"? In our culture we wean our babies quite early, but in many cultures it's perfectly acceptable for children to breast feed throughout their toddler years, even after the introduction of solid foods, with the rate deminishing gradually as the child weans themselves off.

Even the World Health Organization recommends that women breast feed for at least two years. It is believed that thanks to the increased immunizational advantage of breast milk, prolongued breast feeding could actually save over 9000 lives per year in the US (http://www.007b.com/early_weaning.php) A breast fed child is 20% less likely to die of SIDS and has only 50% the overall infant mortality rate.

If the child in question is 12 years old or something, than yes I agree with your concern. But generally I see nothing disturbing about a young preschool child feeding from his mother's breast. Our society has so sexualized the breast that we feel somehow a boy is acting perversely if he suckles at the nipple too long. But in reality, breasts in all mamals exist for food and we ought not be bothered by a child receiving pleasure and comfort in the closeness of his mother.

You may want to do a search on late weaning and prolongued breast feeding. I'm sure you'll find plenty of info to alleviate your unease. :)

Kristine

Thanks for posting this. :) I plan to breastfeed as long as I can or until the baby weans him/herself. Of course, if I have children.

Realized I've made a terrible mistake: it's spelled "teat," not "teet." I'll edit my entry accordingly.

AMEN!

Well, I'm thankful for this lesson in patience I'm being taught through LJ's technical difficulties. Supposedly, my sector will be back online at 10:00 p.m. Monday night. Until then ... well ... I guess there's life to live. :-D

-- Bonni

Besides, that meant I got to watch the new Battlestar Galactica series premiere. Geekily awesome.

I have to agree! it was good, good enough that even my 4 year old was somewhat interested, although he commented that they dont have as many cool 'contraptions' as Andromeda. but, yeah it was rawkin!

I stopped watching Andromeda because I got tired of the bridge exploding in every episode. I know I wouldn't have gotten tired of that at four, though!

totally....and i could see how that would perhaps get old to some...
my main attraction at first was my son's love of the 'purple chic' and it makes time for us to share a bit of time and a common interest.

i am chompin at the bit about the new friday lineup and alex is too...

Right out of high school, I worked at a bank as the resident New Accounts Girl. We were told that while we were asking the customer about their personal information, that we should always make eye contact.

(by the way, I am HATING your grey background/red words deal.)

This one woman came in with her 4-5 year old boy. I looked over at her to ask her address and before I got the question out, the boy said, "Tit, mama! Tit!".

I averted my eyes as he lifted up the whole front of her shirt (no bra) and started in..holding the shirt up over his head the entire time.

Hey, if he's old enough to say 'tit', he's old enough to wean. Stop being cheap and buy the milk, mom!

:D

Oh. My. Gosh.

(I've always hated his red/gray deal.)

It's like he's trying to be difficult.

Oh I don't have to try. I may be difficult, but I'm also lazy. It's a delicate balance.

Since you don't have a Mac, you can't give me a journal makeover, because it will look wonky in my browser.

For me, the comment box is white with black type. I'm sorry it's different elsewhere. Well, sorry in the sense of, "Sorry that you're going to have to keep dealing with the inconvenience," not as in "Sorry enough to change it."