Some of you may have noticed that it isn’t as politically correct these days to use the term “extended breastfeeding.” “Full term breastfeeding” is now the more accepted term.
Why? Because “extended” nursing implies only breastfeeding longer than the norm, and the norm, as many of you know is sadly not long at all.
Also, I venture to guess that using the term “full term” breastfeeding suggests that the user of the term understands that society’s idea of a “normal” length of time to nurse isn’t acceptable for benefitting a child’s optimal health.
“Full term” breastfeeding also is considered a less arbitrary term than “extended” breastfeeding because by the definition of “full term”, if the child is self-weaned or gently weaned past a year, as is the historical and biological norm, then he or she has nursed for the entire duration of one’s natural development.
Except this is where I get stuck because each child’s natural development is different. Let me explain by posing a question.
What if one mother’s child weans himself at 15 months and another mom’s child weans himself at 40 months? Have both of them breastfed full term? Or only the mother of the 40 month old?
What if a baby “self-weans” at 10 months and the mother really wanted to nurse for at least two years but just couldn’t get back on track after a severe, disheartening nursing strike? Has that baby breastfed full term? If not, can the mother say she practiced extended nursing? Is that acceptable here?
I worry that if “full-term breastfeeding gives one the notion that it has reached its complete maturation, its ultimate fulfillment, goal or purpose,” then how is this going to make the moms of babes who wean early feel? And by early, I mean past infancy but earlier than they wanted or expected to.
If a child weans before age two he misses out on a number of benefits: ongoing nutrition, fewer allergies, less illness, and increased good social adjustment. Have the moms of children who have weaned before age two (and thus not taken advantage of these benefits) then not breastfed full term?
My concern about the term “full term” breastfeeding is that it comes across as a bit elitist. If you say you practice “extended” nursing it is a bit more arbitrary, which works in one’s favour because you don’t have to meet the seemingly stricter definition of “full term” breastfeeding. This way no one ends up feeling like they have failed by breastfeeding for a less desirable amount of time.
I believe it’s important to support moms for any length of breastfeeding they have done. Even if it isn’t what is best for a child’s health, or it isn’t what we would do, or it’s for a reason we don’t understand, the fact that a baby receives any amount of breast milk is better than having not received any breast milk at all.
When I first heard about “full term” breastfeeding as opposed to “extended” breastfeeding I was all for it. And I do think it is a better term to use if you have breastfed past two years. However, the more time I spend thinking about it, the more I worry that it is creating more walls between breastfeeding moms – flimsy, unneeded walls between those moms who breastfeed for a respectable length of time and those who breastfeed even longer.
And we certainly don’t need anymore walls.
What do you think?
(For more links to posts and articles about full term breastfeeding, check out Hobo Mama’s post here).
Related posts:
- Long Term Breastfeeding Moms: Are We Damaging Our Kids?
- Poll Results: Moms Who Don’t Cover Do Breastfeed Longer
- Extended Breastfeeding: Melissa’s Story
- Breastfeeding When Baby is Sick
- A Few Things Breastfeeding Moms Should Know About This Week
Tags: breastmilk, extended breastfeeding, full term breastfeeding, self-weaning, weaning
Posted by Melodie Breastfeeding General, Breastfeeding Infants, Breastfeeding Toddler Subscribe to RSS feed
Interesting thoughts Melodie. Along the same lines of divisiveness, we could just stop labeling breastfeeding at all.
Did you breastfeed? Yes. Why the need to define in vague terms how long? We could just be specific.
I think terms like full-term and extended are ways to differentiate and set apart anything outside the norm, and these labels are not always created by those being defined. But for moms who want to label themselves, I think they should choose what they like.
Me? I’m just another breastfeeding mom.
Karen Angstadt´s last blog ..A Birth Experience
I was thinking that “full term” breastfeeding made me feel like I should have tried harder to get Tater to continue nursing. She had been working on self weaning since 10 months and she was finally just done with it at a little over a year. I thought that was long enough until I saw the term “full term” the other day in Twitter and then, I felt as though I failed.
It’s an interesting question. I really like saying that I’m doing “extended” breastfeeding, because it makes me feel like I’ve gone above and beyond. Of course, I’d prefer it if people didn’t treat “extended” breastfeeding as though what I was doing was completely optional and I’m probably screwing my kid up by continuing this nonsense – so I don’t know what the answer is.
I don’t know about full-term either because full-term can mean different things to different people. I might wean Julesy (certainly before he’s ready) if I get pregnant, or have trouble getting pregnant due to breastfeeding (I’m realizing now that my cycles are completely off, and I may actually be anovulatory due to breastfeeding). But I don’t feel like I quit before “full-term”. If I’d quit before 1 year, then I would have felt like I didn’t live up to full term, but at this point, I really feel like I gave him a great start.
Short answer? I dunno. I think I’ll just continue to call what I do “extended” because it’s an easy descriptor in my head. If anybody comes up with a better one though, I’ll think about changing my language.
TheFeministBreeder´s last blog ..Coming to a Television Near You on March 3rd…
@Karen – Yes. I agree that the labeling thing, whether using the term “extended” or “full term” is divisive, that by doing one or the other we are setting ourselves apart from others, by making ourselves seem “better than.” The terms are fine if used among peers, but if you’re someone like @April, then you hear/see the term and you automatically don’t feel “good enough.” That’s ,my problem with it.
@TFB – I’m glad you’re still using “extended.” After thinking about this issue to the point that this post emerged I think I feel more comfortable using the term “extended” over full term. But I do kind of feel guilty about it. Like the pc breastfeeding moms will suggest that I’m not using the right word to describe breastfeeding to age 3.
I feel like I “should” just say I’m a breastfeeding mom, like @Karen says. And I do say that too, but maybe I should just turf “extended” breastfeeding all together? I’m about as lost as you are. I’m going to wait and see what other people say.
Honestly, I’m glad you wrote about this. Because the term “full term breastfeeding” has always rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. And my nursling will be 2 next month and I will nurse her as long as she wants to nurse (which looks like it will be a while). I plan to tandem-nurse when I have my next baby, if that is something she wants to do. (Even though I’m not super thrilled with the idea…makes me tired just thinking about it!) If my daughter wants to nurse when she’s 6, I don’t have a problem with it. I HOPE she doesn’t want to, but I wouldn’t refuse.
That said, I dislike the descriptor “full term” because it feels self-righteous to me. It feels like a way of putting down BOTH women who wean, at any age, AND women who nurse their babies to self-weaning at an age past 2. Because, like Feminist Breeder, I do feel that I should get some cosmic brownie points for going above and beyond the call of duty. Just calling it “full term” is kind of like saying, hey lady, don’t feel too good about yourself, you’re just doing what you were supposed to do. And, of course, it’s hurtful to women who had to or want to stop, for whatever reason, before others thought they should.
Every baby is different. “Full term” is a vague concept. Who knows what full term even is? If you go past age 1 in our culture, I call it “extended.” That’s the terminology that feels most fair, to all mothers, in my view.
I think if we really need to make a distinction between the terms than we need to define them – like maybe ‘extended’ means between 12 – 24 mos and ‘full term’ means beyond 24 mos or a self-weaned child no matter at which age they wean.
I prefer the term ‘extended’, since it doesn’t seem (to me) to be a scientific term. Really, though, I think ‘extended’ means anything past 12 mos (since that’s the minimum suggested time by most pediatric organizations) and since, at least in my circles, weaning at a year is still the accepted norm.
But I do enjoy the question – does it really matter?
Kim´s last blog ..Book Review: Diaper Free
I see “full term” and automatically think pregnancy – I know 9 months isn’t meant, but still it’s what I get. And then when I shove that away I wonder how long “full term” really is – as if there’s a defined length of a breastfeeding relationship that should be the same for all, which full term seems to imply.
But I don’t like extended, either, which suggests it’s gone on longer than the norm (true, sadly for the norm) OR longer than it SHOULD. Some people will “hear” the latter, and I loathe that implication.
I am breastfeeding my infant-almost-toddler and will continue. How long? Long enough – for him and me. I’m breastfeeding. It’s not about terms or “extended” or timetables. It’s about my son and I – our needs and wants.
How about just basing it on the age of the child and call it “toddler nursing” ?It still clearly conveys that you are nursing a toddler, yet doesn’t imply any judgements one way or the other on the morality of the issue. I agree that both “extended” and “full term” can make people feel insecure uneccesarily and like they nursed too long or not long enough.
Love the “nursing a toddler” idea… although I guess toddler can be relative too, right? My 10.5 mo old has been toddling really well for a few weeks now. He feels like a total toddler to me.
I LOVE this post. I LOVE that you call out people who usually call out others on their biases…
I do think, though, that if breastfeeding were not seen as freakish by so many people, we would not have to be fighting so hard to get the right label on something that should really not need to be labeled. I agree with whoever says it should just be “breastfeeding.” We should not have to justify it to anyone else- of course, we use language to communicate- I’m not saying people aren’t allowed to say they are breastfeeding a non-infant- but if breastfeeding in public, and breastfeeding at all, wasn’t such a hot topic, we would not have to be trying to get the politically correct way of saying it.
I think all the other commenters said a similar thing in a WAY more intelligent fashion, but I wanted to chime in and give my “AMEN!” to thinking about language. Although did I just contradict myself because I said we should not have to label? But if we do have to label, we should understand the nuances and how the affect people, which is what so many of the commenters said. Smart bunch o’ women!
FC Mom´s last blog ..Teaching as a Mom
Thanks for talking about this.
I never consider myself doing anything but normally breastfeeding until I encounter some kind of mainstream culture and have a moment of realization think, “Oh I’m extended bfing….I guess” (I do not live in a mainstream community, but rather one that fully embraces nursing long into childhood).
The thing I like about full term is that it could mean anything….it means you nursed until you and your baby were ready to not nurse. To me it doesn’t feel like it applies any age or anything.
But ideally, I’m with Karen: we just nurse.
(On another note I’m having a lot of emotions around weaning my almost 2 1/2 year old b/c of pregnancy and discomfort. He so just wants to nurse and he seem so young to wean to me! It’s almost funny that to some people that would seem old to nurse!)
hillary´s last blog ..flowers13: @RonnaDetrick sounds fun! enjoy the champagne!
I really don’t see the need for another term just because your nursling is older?!? We are still breastfeeding whether they are newborn, crawling or talking right?!?
My kids are all older with the baby being 15 but there was no descriptive term back then in front of nursing. When I first heard the term “extended,” all I could think about was when one of my babies grabbed my nipple and extended it as they nursed, trying to walk away from me at the same time. I cringe every time I see it now.
Why must we label breastfeeding, although I know labeling is what we as a culture do? Is it not good to just encourage whoever wants to breastfed to do so as long as possible?
Nicki´s last blog ..A Love List to My Life
I don’t like the “full term” term. It doesn’t mean anything in reality, cause who can define how much time that is?We only know that a baby should be breastfed for at least six months.That’s all
@Quazydellasue – Vague and self-righteous. Agreed.
@Kim – That’s a good suggestion, however I’m not sure it will ever happen, ubut it certainly would help things if we had a more concrete definition in regard to ages.
@Laura – I read a post comparing “full term” breastfeeding to full term pregnancy. But you’re right, that what is missing here is a defined age of what is truly considered full term.
@Maman A Droit – That’s actually quite perfect. Toddler nursing. Nice and simple and to the point.
@Hillary – That’s the part I like about “full term” too, but it gets confusing to other people I think if you and your baby are ready to be done at 2 and someone else is ready to be done at 4. I think that both of those kids were breastfed full term but there feels like a need to define it further than that. Can you practice extended full term nursing I wonder?
@Nicki – That’s funny. Thanks for making me laugh.
@Fo – Well, I think we know a baby should be breastfed longer than six months. The WHO recommends up to two years and beyond and the APA recommends up to one year and beyond. It is recommended that a baby be breastfed exclusively for six months and afterwards to supplement with solids, but a child needs to have either breast milk or formula for an entire year. However, that being said, it’s up to the mom how long to breastfeed. To know the facts and then decide what is right for her and her family. But I agree, “full term” is vague.
It seems like there are two competing issues: 1) the normalization & encouragement of breastfeeding for longer than just a couple of months and 2) the need to support and uplift mothers regardless of how long they manage to breastfeed.
If there was more support in general for breastfeeding, more mothers would be successful and the whole dialogue would be a moot point. We wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally offending women who couldn’t breastfeed when we mention that we breastfed for a certain amount of time.
The issue seems to be what is a reasonable amount of time and that’s where this need to quantify and classify comes from.
Personally, I don’t use either term but I do see the logic of both.
BluebirdMama´s last blog ..Trick of the Light
This is really interesting.
I heard the phrase “full-term breastfeeding” very recently and I thought, ah! That’s perfect!
The only reason you’d need a term such as extended nursing or full-term nursing is if you write and talk about nursing a lot – which I do.
The reason I love “full-term breastfeeding) is because it implies doing something to completion — you nurse your child until you and your child have completed your nursing relationship. The fact that that amount of time in undefined is very apropos of the unique nature of each nursing relationship.
I love how, unlike “extended nursing” (the term I’ve been using to talk about nursing my pre-schooler (three and a half, doesn’t toddle) suggests I’m doing something aberrant or extreme.
“Full-term nursing” seems to normalize child-led weaning in a way I like.
Conjuring the opposite of “full-term” I don’t have a “women who don’t nurse to full-term are bad mommies” gut reaction. Rather I think that it implies that some obstacle or another has prevented the nursing relationship from coming to full-term completion. In my experience, that’s usually true. Usually it’s a husband pressuring his wife to quit because either he thinks nursing a pre-schooler is kind of icky or he wants his sex-life back the way it was before. (Good luck, buddy!)
I guess I’m interested in drawing attention to the obstacles that prevent “full-term breastfeeding” is why I like it. I’m not interested in pointing my fingers at moms and crying “J’accuse!” if they wean for whatever reason, so my mind just doesn’t go there.
Betsy´s last blog ..Birth Performance Anxiety, or, unassisted in a yurt with Enya in an owl-sanctuary
@Bluebirdmama – You make a very good point. Truly the crux of the matter, I think. Having a breastfeeding friendly culture is the most important thing here.
@Betsy – That’s why I initially liked the term too. And if people can take the definition at face value then that’s perfect and there shouldn’t need to be a further defining of “well you only nursed for 15 months and I did it for 37 months so you couldn’t have nursed full term because the WHO says you need to for at least two years… and yadda yadda yadda.” But I feel like the term does make some women go there in their heads and that doesn’t make for a welcoming breastfeeding community I think. But I do get what you’re saying. If everyone could just accept it for what it is then I wouldn’t have even written this post.
I don’t think I like “full-term breastfeeding” as a word. It just isn’t clear and I can see how some moms would be upset by it. This post was the first I’ve heard of the phrase.
Its probably better to just clarify the length of breastfeeding if it matters to the conversation. Because really, if you say “I breastfed my child,” you could mean for 3 weeks or 3 years.
Kacie´s last blog ..Using cloth diapers without your own washer/dryer
I’ll be honest here…and maybe it will come across as a little naive. When I saw the title of this post. It didn’t occur to me that this meant nursing an older child, or extended or etc etc. I honestly thought it meant to be solely breastfeeding and not supplementing with formula. So perhaps, this isn’t a good choice of word. I am breastfeeding my LO, but I don’t have a community of other breastfeeding moms, maybe that is why I have not heard this term yet. I plan to just say nursing for as long do, which at this point I am hanging on by a thread…lol.
I’ve been seeing a lot more use of the word full-term breastfeeding. I always thought extended breastfeeding meant longer than a year. I say we drop all of the politically correct terms, and just call it breastfeeding.
Darcel´s last blog ..Breastfeeding Videos
I have really very few strong opinions on this either way. I can see the arguments on all sides, and I think you should do what makes you feel comfortable.
In thinking about this, I realize I never use any of those terms. I will say how long my daughter breastfed for, or explain that I’m ‘still’ breastfeeding my son at 18 months. Or I will say things like, ‘nursing beyond the one year mark’. Amongst my mom friend everyone does breastfeed past the one year mark, and so maybe I just don’t even need to define it, I guess. And honestly, it’s mostly easier not to, because I’ve seen some pretty heated discussions.
Amber´s last blog ..18-month-old Jacob
Thanks for the interesting thoughts. A topic true to the title of your blog in the spirit of supporting fellow breastfeeding mothers! I used the term “extended breastfeeding” until reading Woman, Uncensored’s post last month about it. But calling it “full-term” seems to me like using language to try to push cultural acceptance at the expense of alienating all the mothers who weaned by a year. So here’s another voice for just calling it “breastfeeding”, and if I need to clarify, I say “breastfeeding a toddler”.
Christina´s last blog ..Breastfeeding, blogging, and balance
I have been thinking about this post for the past two days, and I just can’t come up with much that hasn’t been said. I agree with pp’s who said “I wish we could just call it bf’ing,” and with Betsy who said that it’s useful to have more specific terms when we write about it, and with bluebirdmama who said the important thing is just normalizing bf’ing in general.
I will say one thing that I don’t think has been mentioned – it is ironic that we have breastfeeding moms using the word “self-righteous” to describe other breastfeeding moms. Don’t we get enough of that from the people who don’t agree with bf’ing? It saddens me that we are arguing or pointing fingers or accusing each other of being holier than thou.
When I use the term “full-term bf’ing,” I am certainly not trying to imply that YOU (or you or you or you – the collective you) were somehow “lesser” than me for not nursing until ______ months; I’m just trying to feel a little bit more normal for nursing my older child. (And yes, I do feel that the semantics of “full-term” are more comfortable for me than “extended,” but that’s my personal preference.)
Really thought-provoking post, Melodie!
Dionna´s last blog ..Parental Confessions
I like “breastfeeding a toddler” but what happens if you go longer? I have a friend who breastfeeds her 5 year old multiple times a day. You could say, “breastfeeding a preschooler/grade-schooler” but the boy is homeschooled.
While it’s much less common, we need to normalize the breastfeeding of children older than 3, too.
Admittedly, I know she doesn’t mention that she breastfeeds her son to many people. She has an almost 2 year old also who is breastfeeding and so she usually just talks about that so as not to get looks. Maybe some day we’ll get to the point where it’s not so charged a topic.
TopHat´s last blog ..Greening our Home: Plastic Dishware
We’ve had a comments discussion over at my blog about this, too:
http://www.hobomama.com/2010/0.....pages.html
I don’t know. I’m with Dionna where I feel like “full-term breastfeeding” is a way of supporting those of us who go against the norm rather than denigrating mothers who are in the majority and wean before a year. I mean, isn’t the fact that they’re in the majority enough support for them? Can’t we freaks be thrown a bone?
I’m speaking somewhat facetiously, of course, but I truly do believe we use terms like “full-term breastfeeding” among breastfeeding advocate types to speak about an experience that is other. In my culture, at least, no one breastfeeds past several months, so I feel like a total weirdo. I retreat to my bloggy friends to feel at home with nursing a 2.5-year-old.
“Nursing a toddler” wouldn’t seem to fit once the kid’s 3 or so. “Extended” sounds abnormal. Some people suggested to me “biologically determined” (is that still pretentious, critical? thoughts?) or “post-infancy” (trying to be more descriptive rather than value-laden, though it still smacks to me of “post-NORMAL”). But I think it might be the way I hear terms, based on my own experiences of feeling alienated and out of place (among real-life friends and family).
I don’t want to offend or make feel inadequate anyone who is one of my bloggy friends who weaned prior to what they think I might consider “full-term,” but I figure (and so do they) that they have good reasons for that. The other people? Those real-life friends who breastfeed for a few months? They don’t read blogs like these! They don’t care what we call it, because they think it’s completely freakish to breastfeed into toddlerhood or beyond. I feel like the terms we have for it are just our special language for our in-talking about the subject.
Lauren @ Hobo Mama´s last blog ..A Valentine’s Day poem
Oh boy. It seems depending on the comment, I go one way and then another comment comes along and I swing the other way again. Or maybe it’s just that I do see each side of the argument for this term. There was a reason I embraced it when I first heard about it, and then a reason I rejected it when I started to think about how it might make other moms feel. And then I was proved to be right by some of the commenters. But then my smart breastfeeding bloggy friends have said a few things in favour of “full term” and I feel like I should embrace it again.
Will I use the term “full term” breastfeeding in speech or in writing in the future? Probably. Will I use “extended” breastfeding in either context in the future as well? Yep, I probably will. Hopefully I don’t offend/alienate anyone/myself by using either term. I would hope I don’t. Maybe that’s the issue with me throughout all of this discussion and even with my blog in general. How can I avoid offending anyone today? How can I be sure to support all breastfeeding moms regardless of how long they breastfeed? I suppose I just do my best.
Melodie´s last blog ..The Things I Didn’t Expect When I Was Expecting
I just wanted to say that I love your blog to pieces. Seriously. You are so great! I have to admit that I don’t really like the term ‘full term bfing.’ It is confusing, because it implies that there IS a term, rather than leaving it open for moms and children to follow each others’ lead. AP is about following your child anyways, as you pointed out in your last post. I know I get fixated on numbers if there are numbers to fix upon, so it is better if I’m left with something like ‘extended bfing,’ because it feels more open ended. ykwim? I def. agree with some of your commenters that full term bfing is exclusionary and a bit negative, although it does normalize what we do.
I think it needs a term though, beyond breastfeeding. Because in order to normalize what we do, we need to be able to describe it. Like it or not, our culture thinks of infants when the word breastfeeding comes up. We need a term to describe breastfeeding into the second year of life and beyond. Extended works for me!
Melissa´s last blog ..Truth and Kindness
I guess for me, breastfeeding is breastfeeding is breastfeeding. Hopefully more women will eventually feed for longer than a few months or even just a year, but it’s still breastfeeding. When we label it as ‘extended’ we seem to be saying it is different and when we say ‘full term’ we seem to be saying it is the best. I don’t think either is true. For some moms breastfeeding for longer than their peers will be normal and for some moms it won’t be the best option.
Kelly´s last blog ..Consider Insteads: Baby Gifts
I had honestly never heard the phrase “full term breastfeeding” until reading this post. It personally doesn’t really bother me. I am going to nurse my daughter as long as she wants and that is that.
Before I make my next comment I would just like to say that I judge no one for their parenting decisions. I have friends who breastfeed for years and friends who start out using formula. That being said I think we tiptoe around people trying to use the PC term. Some people say it makes them feel guilty for not breastfeeding longer, and we come back saying oh don’t worry! It will be fine! But maybe there is a reason they feel guilty. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can give your child!!! If you only breastfeed for two months then your baby is going to be less protected than the child who nursed for a year. I don’t want to make people upset, but maybe people don’t nurse as long because we give them a reason not to.
I have a cousin who stopped nursing when her daughter was six months old. She was perfectly capable of nursing longer, she just didn’t want to. And then she turned to me for reassurance that it was ok. And of course I told her it was going to be fine. But maybe there is a way to nicely explain that it would be better for the baby to nurse longer.
And yes there are medical reasons to not breastfeed and I am NOT talking about those cases.
Alexandra´s last blog ..Stars
Words are just that, words. And, more often than not, political correctness does more harm than good. Women, especially the extremist lactivists, put far too much pressure on other breastfeeding moms to suit my taste. Breastfeeding should not be about guilt or worry or criticism, it should be about the bond you have with your child and nothing more. no amount of words can describe it, and i don’t think we need to start labeling the heck out of this wonderful, unique relationship. It is what it is, and I wish the PC’s would just let it be! mothers need to stop because they or their babies weened at a certain age and be proud that they weathered the storms and nursed for x number of months or years, because that in and of itself is an accomplishment.
lynette´s last blog ..
I think using such terms as “full term” and “extended” will do nothing in the long run but damage our cause. Imagine, to a new mama who hasn’t gotten the nursing thing down yet, sore & tired from delivery/c-sect, painful engorgement, raw nips, no sleep, barely hanging onto breastfeeding one nursing session at a time, etc… and by using these terms we communicate to her that “the standard is at least 1 YEAR to join the group of ‘real’ breastfeeding moms!” SO overwhelming!! It makes me want to cry for her. I was in her shoes 5 months ago & I am so blessed to have had the support of women who had much older babies (and whom I esteemed to be AWESOME milk-warriors) draw me into their sisterhood. My daughter has this sisterhood of INCLUSION to thank for all the good mamas milk she is still happily chugging away on.
As for brownie points for “going above & beyond”… Well, it sounds more than a bit selfish to me if it comes at the price of excluding others. You want brownie points? ENCOURAGE another mom, praising her for her continued efforts! Then you can take credit for 2 babies nursing longer. This way, we will eventually, we will change our nation.
Full-term breastfeeding makes me think there is a set term. You make it to the end of that “term” or you don’t. Totally turns me off.
Extended breastfeeding doesn’t bother me because (for now) there is a common time frame by which most women in our society stop breastfeeding. If you’re breastfeedig long beyond that, it really is extended breastfeeding.
I am not much on using nursing terms. I have always addresses myself as a BF’ing momma. Never added any additional terms to imply how long or how short I nursed.
I have five children and nursed four of them. I enjoyed every minute I nursed my babies and would have nursed them until they were ready to wean. All of mine were ready at about a year with the exception of my 5 month old. He nursed for 4 months and then refused. Instead of forcing it, I allowed him to move on, as much as it broke my heart.
I guess I am not one that is big on putting “labels on timeframes”. Since we all are so different in many ways, I feel like a mother should nurses as long as she and baby are comfy. Point Blank
GreenMomma´s last blog ..Why We Chose Cloth Diapers, Part 3
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