While breastfeeding can sometimes be a sensitive topic that women in the spotlight avoid , Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken publically about breastfeeding her two year old.
Speaking to Katie Couric, Grégoire-Trudeau said that she tries to stay informed about women’s health and that reading medical studies has influenced her decision to keep breastfeeding.
“There are the scientific facts that prove that breast milk is amazing,” she said.
“So if I can continue to feed my child, even if he’s 2, I’m not going to stop if he wants it.”
The 40-year-old also said that whether to breastfeed or not is a woman’s choice and that she has supplemented with formula at times too.
While the World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding children until the age of two, the practice of breastfeeding toddlers can sometimes raise a few eyebrows.
44 year old Gemma Fisher*, breastfed her two children to ‘natural term’.
“I fed my daughter until she turned seven and my son until he turned five. I set out to breastfeed for as long as my kids wanted. Weaning would be their choice,” she says.
Of course breastfeeding older children isn’t as demanding as feeding a newborn.
“The last few years they so only fed every few weeks, it tapered off but it was still there if they needed comfort, a bedtime snuggle or a boost if they were sick,” Fisher explains.
Although Fisher was committed to breastfeeding her children well past their baby years, she came up against a lot of criticism.
“My friends didn’t express judgment but I was careful who I told. There were acquaintances, relatives, and doctors who told me to stop. One acquaintance even rolled her eyes to a friend when my then three-year-old fed,” she recalls.
On one occasion, when her children were two and four, a sales assistant was horrified when Fisher asked for help with a maternity bra. “I felt misunderstood and judged,” she says.
“But I was happy knowing my kids were comforted and healthy”
Lactation consultant Meg Nagle says that there are many benefits associated with natural term breastfeeding.
“Breastfeeding continues to give children vitamins, minerals, enzymes, electrolytes, antibacterial properties, antimicrobial properties and antifungal properties which are present the entire time they are breastfed for. They do not suddenly vanish into thin air [when the child turns two],” she explains.
Nagle also notes that the composition of a mother’s breastmilk changes to meet the specific needs of her children.
“People do not even think twice about having cereal or a cappuccino with cow’s milk in it but question a child having breastmilk that is made exactly for them and their specific needs. Breastmilk continues to be important the entire time your child is breastfed for,” she says.
So why do mothers who feed their children long term attract so much criticism? Nagle says that in Western societies we don’t see enough women breastfeeding. “We rarely see a baby breastfeeding much less a 4 year old so we don’t actually even realize what is normal anymore,” she explains.
Nagle says that the best way we can normalise full term breastfeeding is for mums to breastfeed their children whenever and wherever they are.
“Sometimes we feel as though we are the only ones who are feeding beyond babyhood but the reality is that there are millions of us around the world breastfeeding to natural term.,” she says.
“Feel proud to be mothering through breastfeeding. There are many of us out there supporting you.”
*Name has been changed
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