Dear Friends:
     Alexis asks for thoughts on this.
     I have questions. Whose business is this anyway? Is the boy being
harmed? Aren't cases like this turning up because of greater attention to
breastfeeding in general? Isn't long-term breastfeeding in the USA pretty
much of a closet issue because of cultural discomfort with anybody except
adult men being at the breast? How do we know how many children are nursing
way past kindergarten? What is the boundary between normal and/or healthy
behavior and pathology?
     My last baby, who nursed until she was 5 1/2 years old, still asked to
nurse in a while over the next few years. I didn't want to breastfeed any
more, which is why we stopped when we did. It wasn't traumatic or sudden; yet
her desire persisted for a while.
     Good luck, Alexis.
     Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE, craniosacral therapy
Adjunct faculty, Union Institute and University, Maternal and Child Health:
Lactation Consulting
Supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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