Woman​​ breastfeeding for 13 years says she won’t stop ‘until they’re ready’

Dayna is a mother of five who has been breastfeeding her children for years. She explained: “I first began breastfeeding 13 years ago, and in that time I’ve noticed a cultural shift in the way people view breastfeeding.”

She remains entirely comfortable with her “decision to breastfeed children to the natural term”. However, she has encountered unpleasant situations while nursing her five children in public settings. Dayna said: “I would often have people ask or suggest that I go breastfeed in another room if I fed my baby in front of others. I would politely decline. I would just give people the energy that they give to me; I’ve had friends experience awful comments, which is just shocking, as mothers are already going through enough.

“Most people’s experiences with breastfeeding are what they see in their families growing up, media, publicly.

“If breastfeeding was normalised more in society there would be more understanding of the benefits of it and the realisation that breastfeeding to a natural term (well into toddlerhood) is biologically normal.”

Dayna explained her reasons for continuing to breastfeed her toddlers beyond the age of two: “Continuing breastfeeding past two years old has so many benefits if both mum and child are happy to continue their journey together.

“The best part of breastfeeding into toddlerhood include prolonged bonding, nutritional benefits, ability to evoke a sense of calmness and winding downtime quickly, reduction of risk to certain childhood illnesses, protection from illness.”

She continued: “The worst part (or perhaps the best depending on your situation) is there may be a delay in the return to your cycle which would delay falling pregnant again.

“Also, breastfeeding a toddler while pregnant for me personally was difficult as I had hypersensitive nipples and the act of feeding him hurt and was very uncomfortable and in which case we cut down feeding a lot.”

Dayna revealed she intends to carry on breastfeeding “until we’re ready to begin to wean or one of us is ready”.

“Breastfeeding is a mutual relationship and the mother or child may no longer wish to continue feeding for whatever reason. Breastfeeding your child into toddlerhood is completely biologically normal and in fact what nature intended us to do.

“Of course, some mothers may choose not to breastfeed or are unable to, and that is their journey, but breastfeeding into toddlerhood is another mothers and their children’s journey as well, and is completely normal.

“Mothers need more support and acceptance for their decisions to breastfeed into toddlerhood. Let’s just normalise it.”