The blog expresses my personal opinion.
……is often not something women imagined during their pregnancy. It often goes
…….I’ll give it a try
……I’ll do it for a few days
…….I’ll do it for a few weeks
……I would like to breastfeed for 6 month, start weaning and by 1 year the child will be fully on solids.
Occasionally that is how it happens. And often women find themselves in a situation where they have gone past the 1 year mark and they are still feeding.
If all parties concerned (Mum, Baby and Partner) are happy with this -> no problem 🙂
And then you talk to other family members, friends, colleagues and strangers and all of a sudden you find yourself in a position having to justify why you are breastfeeding beyond a year.
Yes there are plenty of good reasons you can give: Health Benefits, emotional support for the child, having food when your baby is ill and can’t eat anything else, good reason to sit down – slow down and connect with your child, wonderful parenting tool, etc, etc….
But – this for me is the second step. The first one is: What makes people think they have the right to tell you what you can feed your baby and how to raise your child?
I know it happens in a lot of child related areas and it seems particular bad when it comes to breastfeeding. So I would suggest don’t defend your choice of going with what is
a) normal and
b) the right choice for your family
Often people make the suggestions from a place of caring and wanting to be supportive and sadly most of the time it is not what you need. Either ask them to explain what it is that makes them think that their choices are better for you and/or your child or thank them for the information given and leave it at that.
There is nothing wrong with breastfeeding beyond a year (there are blogs who cover the benefits of it) as long as it is the right choice for you and your family 🙂
You might also be interested in visiting these websites:
Jodie May Smith: http://lifewithpinkprincesses.co.uk/
The secret life of Kate: http://www.thesecretlifeofkate.blogspot.co.uk/
Breast4Babies: http://breast4babies.blogspot.co.uk/
Smiling like sunshine: http://www.smilinglikesunshine.com/
Barefoot Books: http://www.barefootbooks.com/marketplace/38341