How Old is Too Old?

I was just reading this blog that talks about a youtube video about a mom that nurses her 8-year-old. I couldn't bring myself to watch it, but you're welcome to.

I like all of the benefits breastfeeding provides for Aidan and for myself. I was joking with my sister a few weeks ago wondering how old is too old to still breastfeed so I can keep eating extra sweets. I'm not sure how far past 12 months I'll go, but Aidan's having a hard time with baby food so I'll just go at his pace for now and see what happens. He maybe eats 1/4 a jar of baby food a day. Maybe.

Did you see that clip from Grown Ups in the preview where the kid walks up and says "I want milk" and the mom whips out her boob? Yeah, that weirded me out a bit.

The WHO recommends nursing until age 2. AAP recommends at least for 12 months. Only about 14% are exclusively breastfed until 6 months in the US (Granted, this is exclusively.)

What do you think? How old is too old? 6 months? 12 months? 18 months? 2 years? when they can talk and ask for it? when they bite? preschool? ...

Nursing Controversy

I've been really interested by all the continual controversy over breastfeeding in public, posting breastfeeding photos etc.

I follow Nat the Fat Rat and her posts on Babble- lately she's basically been orchestrating this movement about breastfeeding in public and it got me thinking.

Then the news has had a few articles about the matter for a few years now.

I have never breastfed in public and I don't know if I'll ever have the guts to do so. I don't know if I'd ever post a picture of me nursing either. I do believe that some women can pull it off much better than others. It just looks like they're holding their baby. And why is it that when I see somebody breastfeeding, my initial reaction is "uuuuuuh" and I feel all awkward for a second and then quickly get over it. I even breastfeed!

Why do I react in such ways?! Is it because women are so sexualized? Is it because I'm worried somebody might get turned on by the fact that I'm exposing my boob and feeding my baby? Is it the fact that I'm just a private person? I'm a bit bugged that it's even an issue, but I'm trying to figure it out.

I'm really bugged that BYU of all places has like 9 mother's lounges and they have over 30,000 day time students. And it's near impossible to find a place to plug in a pump. For real?! We are BYU! Family first! You want us to make babies, but you don't want to give us places to nurse them? And then you get mad if somebody nurses their baby in the quad?! How would you feel if you had to eat in the bathroom?! I have to kick the sleeping undergrad off the couch and then it reeks of farts and old lady and you want me to sit in there for 15-20 minutes while I feed my baby?

Part of me says, it's my right to feed my baby whenever and wherever I want. I'm not going to go into hiding for a year just so I can feed him. And no, I'm not going to expose my boobs to you, but my shirt might be lying across the top of my baby's face. His face would discretely cover all that could be seen. Most state laws agree that this is perfectly okay. And I'd probably use a cover, too. But at the same time I think it'd be odd. I'd feel waaay uncomfortable. I'd be worried if he decided to unlatch and look around. My husband would feel uncomfortable. I'm lucky that my baby will take a bottle, but a lot of babies don't. It's a weird situation, you know.