A friend of mine and I are in a little disagreement about breastfeeding. She is still breastfeeding her 2 1/2 year old children. The AAP and WHO recommend breastfeeding exclusively to 6 months, and breastfeeding to a year if possible, while introducing solid foods. They also state that you should continue breastfeeding as long as it's mutually acceptable to the child and mother.
My feeling on the latter part of that statement is that if, for example, the child no longer wants to breastfeed around 9 or 10 months, then you should no longer force the child to breastfeed. Her feeling on that statement is that if the child is 5 years old and she and the child still want to breastfeed, then it's acceptable. Her reasoning behind this is that children in third world countries breastfeed to 5 or 6 years old, so why shouldn't we? I tried to counter with the fact that children in third world countries have to do this just to survive, because there are few other food choices in most cases.
I also believe that breastfeeding to this age can possibly cause psychosocial problems (see Freud's oral stage of development and Erikson's autonomy vs. shame and doubt). She stated that "everyone has an oral fixation" because "everyone likes to eat" (???). I'm not sure what eating has to do with an oral fixation.
Granted, I'm "just a man" and because of that fact, I don't know anything about these types of issues , but I just don't think that there's any medical or psychological reason to be breastfeeding a 2 1/2 year old child. Am I wrong here?
One point of clarification -- she does not breastfeed exclusively. Meaning, the children do eat solid food, along with breastfeeding throughout the day.
, but I just don't think that there's any medical or psychological reason to be breastfeeding a 2 1/2 year old child. Am I wrong here?