People argue too much about breastfeeding. Do it in public and you’re “provocative,” use formula and you’re a “bad” mom, wean too quickly and you’re a “quitter,” and nurse past infancy and you — and your kid — are “weird.”
And it doesn’t matter how much evidence proves the opposite: It’s legal to publicly breastfeed in all 50 states, baby formula adequately meets babies’ nutritional needs, “most” infants are not exclusively breastfeed for the one-year standard, and extended breastfeeding (nursing beyond the first year is life) is encouraged by health experts, as long as mother and baby are comfortable doing it.
Yet once a child reaches his or her first birthday it’s generally expected that moms stop nursing, even though there’s evidence that the nutritional benefits of breast milk remain for longer. So it’s pretty cool when moms buck beliefs by nursing their toddlers, no matter what anyone thinks.
When Thandiwe Newton posted a pic of herself breastfeeding her son Booker at age two she captioned it, “…This is what my body is made for. And the rest is my choice.” And former Bachelor star Bekah Martinez stood up to those who balked at her breastfed two-year-old daughter Ruth. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is NOTHING weird about feeding and soothing my toddler via breast,” Martinez wrote on Instagram. “There is NOTHING wrong with sharing it via social media.”
And Mayim Bialik only stopped nursing her son Fred when he was four years old “because he was ready.”
Can’t we trust mothers to feed their children how they want — and for as long as they want? These celebrity moms who breastfed beyond one year are doing what’s best for them and their babies.
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