My friend Sara and I were chatting a couple days ago about our thoughts on being breastfed past infancy. I brought up the positive experiences I had while being breastfed into my early childhood years (I weaned around the 5th or 6th year of life, but the process is so slow no one really remembers my exact age). Anyone making the argument against extended breastfeeding (breastfeeding past infancy) has a hard time debating with current parents who were also parented in a similar way, and are choosing this specifically because of their positive experiences they had (as well as taking into account their own child’s individual needs).
Sara summed it up well: “Yep, I think it fires people up when they can’t chip away at my confidence by scaring me into thinking that breastfeeding and AP will make my child unfit for society. I’ve gotten some wacky comments when I point out that I was breastfed until age three.”
Below, on the left, is a photo of me with my parents in 1988. To the right, is me again, now as a mother, with my last nursling and my husband. Full circle.
Thank you mom and dad for giving me the confidence to parent the way I know is best for each of my children, and to do it without apology.
