My friend visited this weekend and expressed surprise that I am still breastfeeding my 9mo. I was surprised because she has 16 nieces and nephews and is an IM intern, so I'd think she'd realize that breastfeeding a 9mo is completely normal. Anyway, we got to talking and she expressed distaste about a woman who breastfed a 2.5yo. I have no problem with breastfeeding a 2.5yo, though I don't think I'd want to do it. But then another friend pointed us to this youtube video about a woman who breastfed one child until 5, and is still breastfeeding the other at 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6rFsxpqNBE. I tried really hard not to judge while watching, but I just couldn't help myself - it seemed extremely weird, if not wrong.

I don't want to start anything inflammatory. I think we can all agree that breastfeeding is a wonderful thing (which is not to say that women who don't breastfeed are not equally wonderful mothers). But I'm interested in people's opinions - is there an age limit? When is your child too old to breastfeed?

Pregnant, but not a mom yet, but I have plans to breastfeed until at least six months, but preferably a year. Although, I will be in rotations then, and it will likely be through pumping that that breastmilk gets to my baby - so really - not actual breastfeeding anymore then.

The Academy recommends doing it as long as it is mutually desired between the mom and child, which seems open-ended; however, my grandmother's best friend's daughter still breastfeeds her kids, who are around 7 and 9, and my grandmother's BF thinks it is creepy. To the point that my grandmother was telling me about it after a visit to her where it came up in conversation. I'm sure everyone has an opinion, though. That's just mine (I agree with my grandmother).

I think more than about 2 starts to cross the line into creepy territory. 7 is just weird. Can you imagine if this kid's school peers heard this? It's one thing if you live in a village in AFrica and this is the only food available, but in the US breastmilk is just not a main nutrient past toddlerhood. In my totally off -the-cuff unresearched opinion.

Teeth + nipples = HELL NO!!!!!!

Southern, you might be surprised. Some women find that when they are weaning they can still nurse once or twice a day and not have to pump at work, at least for the last month or two. I found this to be true with my daughter--we were weaning, but I was still able to nurse her at night that last month during my surgery rotation. However it's not true across the board; some women dry up pretty quick.

Not to get off tangent or anything....

I don't know how old is "too old," but my daughter agrees with the woman's daughter: breastmilk is the most delicious thing in the whole world. She remembers that and talks about it occasionally, even though it has been many years since she has had any.

My children nursed after they started sprouting teeth and it was never an issue. They all self-weaned at around 10 months.

Mine got teeth at 3 months so it would have been early weaning. They did bite a couple of times. That ended the feeding, no matter how hungry they were. They didn't do it again.

I guess it depends on what you mean when you say possible to breastfeed too long. From the mother's perspective? From the child's? From personal experience, my mom breastfed me until I was 3 years old. I'm pretty sure I don't have any long-lasting psychological damage from this(!) although I do have vague, early-childhood memories of breastfeeding. These memories don't weird me out though, in the same way that memories of me running around naked in the neighborhood as a 3 year old don't weird me out. Maybe it would be different if I were much older. It doesn't bother me at all, actually, that I was breastfed for so long. But, I would probably not want to do this with my kids (maybe breastfeed for a year?)

On the up-side, I have 2 siblings who both stopped breastfeeding before they were 1 year olds because they both discovered and preferred bottles. Of the three of us, I am the only one who does not have any allergies (both of them have pretty bad hayfever.) Who knows if this is related, but I've heard that long breastfeeding can decrease the incidence of allergies later on in children.

Also, breastfeeding definitely decreases the mother's risk of breast cancer later in life (according to my professor), and the longer the breastfeeding the lower risk of breast cancer later on.

I guess at the end of the day it's up to the mom and the kid!

I just watched the above youtube video. I agree that this is a little strange. I think toddlers and young kids are one thing, but school-aged children are different. Personally, I think my cut-off for weird breast feeding is around age 4-5!