Let’s talk about…

Extended nursing.

Check out this link. Huffington Post Article 

Don’t worry so much about the actual article. With the exception of the article saying Rielle Hunter “admits” that she is still nursing her two year old, (Saying “admit” is like saying it is some taboo or illegal practice. Give me a break! She TOLD another mother she is still breastfeeding) and an idiotic poll about people’s opinion of Rielle Hunter breastfeeding her 2 year old (because you know what opinions are like…), the issue I have is with the comments people have posted. OK, so I didn’t read all the comments. I got ticked at one particular one and quit reading.

An OB nurse (yeah, sure you are, and what about being an OB nurse qualifies you to give parenting, let alone lactation, advice?) posted “I find that women who continue to nurse after the point at which the child can articulate their desire to breast feed, are generally doing so for their own needs, rather than the needs of their child. Often they are women who bask in the reflected glow of their babies, and are unwilling to let go of this reward. It has nothing to do with nutritional needs. I'm all for healthy breastfeeding, but there comes a point at which it is an impairment to the psychological development of the child, impeding splitting from the mother.”

Listen, sister, my child self-weaned at 3 months shy of her 3rd birthday. I would have been happy if she self-weaned any time after her 1st birthday, but she didn’t want to wean. She could tell me in full sentences that she WANTED to nurse. Tell me, how has her extended nursing impaired her psychological development? She is an independent child (believe me, every other sentence out of her mouth is “I can do it by myself!) with the vocabulary of a middle-schooler. There is absolutely no problem with her development. Psychological or otherwise.

I was basking in no “glow” of my baby. I would have loved to have had my breasts back to being used for recreational purposes only sooner, but she still wanted, and needed I might add, to nurse. You said it yourself, the child “can articulate their desire to breast feed”. Their “desire to breast feed”. What about that says that the mother is doing it for her “own needs” as you put it?

And finally, you say you are “all for healthy breastfeeding”. Well, I’ve got some news for you, Nursey. Breastfeeding your 2 year old IS healthy. I would think as an OB nurse who claims to know so much about lactation and parenting you would know that, but I bet they didn’t cover that in the extensive (by the way bold = dripping with sarcasm here) training you have had on healthy breastfeeding, which was what? A few hours at most, right?

Stick with what you know. You are probably an excellent OB nurse, but an expert on healthy breastfeeding, you ain’t.


(And to my lovely OB nurse friend, Shannon, you rock! If you made the post I’m bitching about, keep it to yourself. :) )