Breastfeeding an 8 year old?!?

Question

Watch this video and share your thoughts. Do you think that breastfeeding an 8 year old is a good thing? Do you there is a possibility that it could harm the child mentally/psychologically?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxv6R9fUO74

Answer 1

yuck ya i saw that on tv that is discusting and could harm the girl and people will tease her.

Answer 2

The mother is a freaking pervert and she needs a man!!

Answer 3

I think its more so the mom wanting to not cut the umbilical cord.  That's very odd.

Answer 4

Personally I feel it is a form of sexual abuse for any child over 2. I can remember when our house burned down, I was 3.5 years. I remember playing in that house, and an some things that happened when I was only 2. I would not want to remember breastfeeding! Would you allow your 3 or older daughter to see your husband naked? Why would it be okay for your son?

Answer 5

I saw that episode of Tyra...that's disgusting and almost perverted! I don't even wanna know what kind of effect it's had (or gonna have) on those kids! She even said that they're not actually breast feeding because at a certain age, they lose certain sucking abilities that are needed to actually get milk, yet, she's still shoving their heads under her shirt because she said it's "bonding time"...too weird!

Answer 6

I saw the video and left a few comments the other day.

I think it's completely wrong.

When I was 8, I couldn't have still breastfed, it would have been so uncomfortable.

I don't like it, but if the woman wants to do that to her kids, that's her choice I guess.

Answer 7

Yes it will most certainly distrupt the child's emotional development. Its not natural and the kid will have social problems and mature slowly i guess.

Answer 8

So wrong for the child

Could her the little girl

Answer 9

I heard of the studies saying breastmilk is good for developing smarter children or something, but 8 years old is too far.

The oldest a child should be breastfed is 3...which I still think is pushing it.

Answer 10

It is socially unacceptable, and morally also.  What is the mother thinking, not to cut the apron strings.  The oldest I have seen in family practice was 5 years old.

The child ends up dependent and socially withdrawn.  Not a good thing!!  Kind of upsetting to see a mother accept this kind of behavior.  Maybe, the mother has separation anxiety from her youngest.

The family needs outside help.  Where is the father, and how does he feel about this??

Answer 11

many men and women still have the mom's t*t in the mouth syndrome...but then again that is figuratively speaking.....this however is abuse.

Answer 12

There is something seriously wrong with that. If someone wants to s***w up a kid like that might as well breastfeed til 45 or 50 . When theres a bad day at the DMV they'll come home and have some milk. When a date goes wrong have some milk. And when AARP don't meet your needs or wants have some milk.

Answer 13

hmmm, did i hear that right? she would "rather have breastmilk than a million 'melons'!"....hmmmmm....that's rather ironic....

Answer 14

It could definitely harm the kid psychologically. I've heard of that at like 3 yeard old... but 8!? That's just not normal.

Answer 15

There isn't much information out there on breastfeeding 8 year olds, but it isn't unheard of for normal, healthy people breastfeed beyond infancy.  Kathryn Dettwiler is an anthropologist who teaches at Texas A&M University, and she has done research on extended breastfeeding.  She believes a biological norm for human breastfeeding is 2.5-7 years and her research has suggested that most people who breastfeed beyond 3 years are middle to upper class, well-educated, and of European ancestry.

She has several articles here:

http://www.kathydettwyler.org/dettwyler....

Answer 16

OMG! I've seen this before and I think it's gross! I breastfed my daughter for a year, and would have happily continued up to age two (which is a personal comfort choice), but I became pregnant, and my milk diminished greatly. I strongly believe it is a mother's choice, but 8 years old is REALLY pushing it!

Answer 17

I think it would be called child abuse. Thats way too old.

Answer 18

This is nothing new, but every couple weeks or so, someone wants to bring up how astonishing and horrible it is.

While I would not be comfortable with it, they are.  There is nothing sexual about it.  And there are far worse things a parent could be doing to a child.

And breast milk is healthy for people of all ages.  Me personally, if it were me I would pump and then give them the milk that way.  But.....  

Everyone is different.  Every culture is different.  Being different is not bad.

Answer 19

Breastfeeding should end around six months.

Answer 20

ok wow noooooooooooo too old it could become dependent and get made fun of in school if truth comes out WRONG!!!!!

Answer 21

that is not only disturbing, but its wrong. why would a parent do that to their child? it is life scaring and gross. i would never ever do that to a child. the kid has to learn to drink out of a cup and be indepent.

Answer 22

haha yes. Studies have been done actually tat say that is help build a bond between the mother and child...however, children are usually weined of such a methos long before they hit the age of eight. IF this does go on longer then there shall be  some emotional issues of this child

Answer 23

why would you breastfeed an eight year old?

Answer 24

i think pretty much each year you breast feed a kid after 5 is an extra 50,000 dollars in psychiatry when they get older.

so i figure shes gonna need a solid 150,000 in treatment when she realizes she has a very unhealthy obsession with b*****s...

(did you see the part where the 10year old is on a swing and says "breast milk is better than a mango. id rather have breastmilk than all the mangoes in the world" or something along those lines. not good.)

she will be teased when she tells her friends and then she will begin to think that b*****s, breastmilk, breastfeeding, and her mother are all very bad things.

after she tells her mother that by breastfeeding her until she was 8 she ruined her life, she will probably enter therapy for years.

well, it was her mothers choice...

Answer 25

I think this is ridiculous.  I breast feeding is a very bonding thing but you can only take that bond so far.

Answer 26

URRRRR VERY VERY WRONG INDEED

Answer 27

Very, very, VERY wrong.

Answer 28

That is the most disgusting thing Ive ever seen...............

Hi my name is Bethany and I still breastfeed off of my mommy....wanna play dolls!

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats way to friekin old! They are in school. They probably get made fun of and will for the rest of their lives. Poor girls, and they probably don't even know any better. That mother needs smacked.

I don't think breastfeeding is bad, I breastfed my daughter, but not for 8 yrs! I could see up to 2 yrs but not 8, my goodness. Breastfeeding is Good but not like this

Answer 29

Personally, I think it's ridiculous.

Answer 30

No Dr Phil, here, but yah, I think it could harm psychologically.  It's a little different being a girl, but if anyone at school ever found out, she'd be socially ostricized.

Answer 31

It should be illegal