Whiskey...Tango...Foxtrot?

WTF?!?! That's what immediately came to mind when I read an article about a woman still breastfeeding her EIGHT and NINE year old kids in the UK (full article). At first, I thought it was just some weird English family being kooky. Then, I did a little research and found that they're not the only ones.

• It is from Urbana, Illinois. U.S. prosecutors are trying to stop a woman from breastfeeding her eight year old son. The mother is 34 years old and apparently allows him to suckle every ten days or so. She refers to this as natural, child led weaning. She has appeared on a morning talk show (no surprise there) to discuss her situation. The program included video footage of the boy sucking away. She is quoted, "I think people need to see me and my child and realise that this is a perfectly normal practice. We are your standard middle class American family, and we're not doing anything wrong."
  

• Kathleen Huggins and Linda Ziedrich, in The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning, give an interesting glimpse into weaning practices of other cultures. In one account a Sioux mother "came to school at recess to nurse her eight-year-old boy because he had a cold." And they comment "this wasn't a very remarkable occurrence in her culture; the average nursing period among the Sioux, traditionally, was three to five years."

There are a lot of stories on this subject. You can do the research yourself, if you're that interested. Apparently, there are a lot of studies done to see what the benefits of continuing the breastfeeding past infancy might be. The obvious ones are increased immune functionality and resistance to allergies. I'm all for breastfeeding. That's the natural way and it's the breast's intended purpose.

However, I've got to admit that it seems a bit weird for an 8 year old to be breastfeeding. I would think there might be some social implications for a situation like that as well. The term "momma's boy" comes to mind. And if the kid is old enough to ask for it, isn't that a bit creepy? I just have the image in my head of a third grader coming home from school and asking mom for some milk to go with his afternoon snack or something. Cookie in one hand and asking mom to lean down so he can reach the teat. Just a bit strange to me, that's all.

In my opinion, if they've got teeth and can eat on their own...they should probably be learning how to be independent rather than breastfeeding. In addition, what woman really wants cookie crumbs all over them from their third grade kid (or orangutan nipples from their teeth gnawing at them all day)? I'm just sayin.