The nutritional benefits of breast milk are widely known, but at what age does breast stop being best for your child? Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings speaks to a mum-of-three who has breastfed her children up to the age of five.
STANDING in the middle of her local delicatessen, Christine McGarvey hugs her toddler son tightly to her, soothing his anguished cries.
Atticus, who has just turned four, has accidentally trapped his finger in the door, and Christine knows exactly what he needs to soothe his obvious distress. In front of the owner and another customer, she lifts her top and gently offers him her breast.
"Normally I would say 'wait' or go somewhere discreet because I know that a lot of people would be shocked to see a little person like that feeding, but in this case he was really, really distressed," she recalls.
Christine, 44, is a keen advocate of breastfeeding children beyond the age of 12 months, known as extended breastfeeding.
She breastfed her first son, Sam, now ten, until he was five years old. Her second son Archie, now seven, weaned himself off at the age of three, while four-year-old Atticus, fondly known as Atti, is still breastfeeding.
Christine has been lactating for more than ten years - which is something she never planned on doing. When she first left hospital with Sam, she admits the idea of extended breastfeeding was rather perturbing.
"I had friends who were feeding their two and three-year-olds and I can remember finding it quite shocking," she says, sinking into a comfy armchair at her York home. "But now I look at it as natural for youngsters to carry on until they're ready. People think it's tantamount to child abuse, and it's meeting the mother's need to breastfeed at that age, but you can't force a toddler to feed."
Christine initially had problems breastfeeding Sam. She left hospital with painful, cracked nipples and was deeply distressed when she couldn't feed her child. It took a visiting midwife to explain that Sam had been positioned incorrectly to take milk. From the moment mother and son connected, there came a feeling of joy at passing on immune-boosting nutrients and sustenance from her body.
"As he plumped out, I thought my goodness, my body has grown him for nine months and my body is feeding him," she says gently. "I thought it was beautiful. I kind of thought after a year I would wean him off, but then it got to a year and I thought, how can I? He's just a little baby. How can I not offer this nutritious milk which helps him feel close and safe and comforted?"
According to UNICEF - the United Nations' Children's Fund - 13 per cent of women in the UK are still feeding their babies at nine months compared with 69 per cent at birth. The reasons they stop vary, but include not producing enough milk, returning to work, or that the baby rejected the breast. It recommends breastfeeding for at least the first two years.
It is difficult to envisage any boisterous toddler being able to get into a comfortable position to take the milk, but Christine laughs as she explains "that's where toddler gymnastics comes in".
"Oh it is quite easy, they find their own comfortable position. I prefer them on my lap," she says, making a cradle motion with her arm.
Some mothers also face problems with their toddler's "free" hand with their tots feeling the need to tweak their mother's other nipple or play "peek-a-boo" by pulling their top up and down. Some mums prefer to give their child a nursing necklace for them to play with to occupy their free hand or a small toy - particularly if they are breastfeeding in public. Just as with every other aspect of a toddler's life, it is important to set boundaries, says Christine, who doesn't allow her child to touch her other breast while feeding.
"They know what their boundaries are and what they can and can't touch," she says. "I do believe in nursing etiquette. If you don't feel comfortable with it, it's your body. If you're feeding a two-year-old on a train you can be quite discreet, people think you're giving them a cuddle. Where the nursing etiquette comes in for me is in not lifting my top up."
Christine says she has had many more smiles and kind looks than she has had repugnant stares during the occasions she has publicly breastfed. But she doesn't breastfeed in public very often and says it is partly because you can negotiate with a toddler.
"At two-and-a-half you can say 'I'm in the middle of tea, can you wait?' or 'can you wait until we get home?'," she says. "If they were really distressed, like Atti was in the deli, I would say yes, but at that age it's a two-way thing.
"When I was with Sam, I would just feed anywhere, but as I've got older and more sensitive to other people and not wanting to put people off, I've become more discreet."
She admits the attitudes of some friends have shocked her. "I've had people saying I'm psychologically damaging them and how it's disgusting," she says quietly. "But I've also had to understand where they're coming from. I've had three children, I've become more sensitive and I'm trying to talk to them and make them understand."
She denies that by breastfeeding her children for so long she is raising children who are not so much tied as chained to their mother's apron strings. "My view is that the more breastmilk they get now, the more independent and confident they become in the future," she says.
Each child stopped taking her milk when it was right for them, although she says that with Sam it was she who initiated the conversation. "With Sam, we did talk about it and he said he was a big boy and he wanted to stop," she says. "Atti has been gradually weaning off from the age of two. Sometimes he does want mummy milk and sometimes he doesn't.
"He will come up to me if he's hurt himself, have two or three sucks, and then be off again. It does have properties which are healing. It's calming and he gets a cuddle."
What they call their mummy's milk can also differ. Sam called it "num-mum" while Archie opted for "da". "Atti calls it 'mummy milkeeeeeeeee'," laughs Christine. "Which is interesting sometimes when he shouts it from the garden."
Christine's partner Tim has been incredibly supportive about her breastfeeding. It fits in with their ethos, she says, about living healthily and respecting the environment. She takes me around their garden and shows me where they are growing their own fruit and vegetables. Inside the colourful lounge, there is no television. They prefer to listen to the radio and story tapes, she says.
She believes a lot of women stop breastfeeding because of the lack of support around them. She feels passionate about passing on information on the subject and is a local leader of the La Leche League, a charity which supports women who breastfeed.
The benefits of breastfeeding for longer include the antibodies the toddler receives in the milk, she says.
Toddlers who are breastfed are found to have fewer illnesses and are less likely to have allergies as breast milk lines the gut to protect it against allergens. It also has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties.
Sam, Archie and Atti are certainly great advertisements for extended breastfeeding. They look incredibly healthy when they pop into the lounge to say hello, with shining eyes and wide, confident smiles. But Christine has been lactating for ten years now, and with Atti aged four, she is heading towards a time when there will no longer be a need for mummy milk.
"Part of me looks forward to it and part of me feels really sad because I've been breastfeeding for ten years," she admits, clearly emotional.
"For me, if a child at that age is upset about something, the easiest thing to do is to offer them a breast. It's just magical, it's magic milk. It will just be another transition we will face as a fami ly."
* For more information on breastfeeding contact the La Leche League on 0845 120 2918 or visit www.laleche.org.uk
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