Canadutch
Ok I’m not a mother so maybe I just don’t get what would possess this woman to breastfeed her children so long. By so long I don’t mean until they are 14 months rather than 9 months, I mean like… until they are 5 and 8 years old and then some.
It can’t be just me who found it incredibly strange to watch that video and see a child almost the full length of the sofa crawling up into mommy’s top for a wee suckle. I mean, really? Does she stop on a bench at the mall like the other moms and breastfeed her 8 year old?
I found the part about her kids constantly playing with her breasts, naming them and being completely obsessed with them slightly disturbing. I wonder if this would be as acceptable to some if it were boys she had instead of girls. Weirdo.
Since seeing that clip I can’t help but hearing a song from “Free To Be You & Me” with Marlo Thomas and friends (I grew up in the 80’s but my older cousins had this tape and I’ve seen it a thousand times).It’s a great tape.
Anyway, the song is called “Parents are People”. And the line that runs through my head over and over again goes:
“Mommies are people, People with children..”
I’ve always felt one of the main purposes of this song was to let kids know that parents are individuals with feelings of their own.
One of my many concerns about breast feeding older children is that the children seem to see their mother’s breasts as their own personal property and don’t see their mother as a person independent from themselves. This was also the impression I got of the children from that clip.
I’d like to leave off with a light hearted “Sex & The City” quote:
Carrie: There’s a woman in there breastfeeding a child who can chew steak.
Miranda: You know how I feel about that.If you can ask for it, you’re probably too old for it.
stigma or not it’s funny, and we all have to laugh @ ourselves a little!
Leah, in the US, whose nipples hurt just remembering that clip! I wonder if they wear teeth guards?
Crazy folk!!!
I don’t get it either….
Yeah, a year or so is okay but that’s a bit extreme. She’s obviously a very much stay-at-home mother with lots of time on her hands, so to speak.
I’m here from BE and just had to comment. This was part of a larger show (an hour long I think) that was aired over here (UK) at some point last year which featured I think 3 families. I’m all for breastfeeding and there are proved benefits to both mother and child from it. I also think that the WHO actually recommends breast feeding until age 5. As a woman who is used to being different from society (I’m a wheelchair user) I long for the day when social stigma’s don’t exist and we can live without being judged. that said, I don’t think I would do it that long if I had kids, but who really knows until they are there ;)
Sorry Mary I have to disagree with you.
I agree that breastfeeding is natural and I’d encourage any mother to do so if she is able. Breastfeeding young adults is NOT natural though and shouldn’t be happening.
What 8 year old wants to go to school and admit they are still being breast fed? Can you imagine the torment they’d go through at school? Fine, you can say it’s the ‘social stigma’ etc but the bottom line is that children don’t NEED to be breast fed that late in life. There are no nutritional benefits nor are there any emotional benefits.
If a woman feels the need to breast feed an 8 year old child to feel connected to them, that says a lot more about her own issues than anything else. There are plenty of other ways to bond with your children without making your breasts their own personal playthings.
As I said, I’d LOVE to see how this story would go over if a woman was still breast feeding her 8 year old son.
I am all for breast feeding, but personally I wouldn’t let it go on so far. It would creep me out a bit breast feeding a 7 year old. No I don’t think I would.
I love how the husband says it’s no one else’s business but here they are doing a mini documentary on it. You can’t expect people not to comment and have differing views.
It’s great that she’s open about nudity and sexuality with her children (my parents were the extreme opposite), but I can’t help but find breastfeeding an 8 year old a little odd.
You have to admit though it’s probably a great diet and loose that baby weight!
Sick?
That’s a powerful reaction to one of nature’s most natural and powerful gifts.
Truly I can find nothing and I mean nothing sick about this video at all. Out of the norm perhaps in today’s world yes..but offensive. Why?
I think this modern world of ours direly misses out on what it means to accept what is clearly one of the most, if not the most, natural phenomenon in the world. The ability to give and sustain life is stunning. Just because some of us may feel uncomfortable about such things, should we really be so harsh? Step back and take a good look at what’s really going on in that video. I see quite a well adjusted and loving family who are teaching their children to be open minded, natural and above all secure in who they are.
Pretty impressive I say. Don’t let the societal stigma of the day rule your heart, the times change with the wind, a mother breast feeding her child rules time, and will always be.
As women our instinct, if nothing else, should guide us into seeing the truth here. A mother feeding her child until said child outgrows the need. Is it for everyone, probably not, but it’s certainly far, far from being wrong or sick.
besides all that… who would be sick enough to tape it?
bizarre.
Well that is certainly one for the books! Breast fed my children (l yr) but personally feel that seven is a little extreme to say the least. Guess the girls get alot of satisfaction in the act but —- what do others think?