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Literally...speechless.

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  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Can you please indicate what is on that video before I click on it? Hate surprises.

  • FeeFee Raw Master

    It about a woman in England who is still breast feeding her daughter at 8. Its got 46,500 comments! Her elder daughter stopped at 5 but she still feeds her younger one when she asks which is becoming less frequent.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    hahahahaha!!!!!!!!

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    oh my. That is disturbing.

    "I'd rather have lots of breast milk than a million melons" lol.

    Two years maximum! Those kids already seem a little....different.

  • wow lol

  • RawaholicRawaholic Raw Newbie

    Yikes! That is freaky!

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    SULTARIA - If it is psychologically damaging to the children, it is only because of the way our culture sees it. In the Western hemisphere, breasts are mainly seen as serving a sexual purpose rather than what they were intended for. I suspect the true factors that naturally lead to the cessation of nursing have more to do with the offspring becoming independent of the mother and the mother having tasks to perform that keep her from nursing. I decided to let my son nurse until he didn't want to anymore. He started walking at a very early age so by 11 months he wasn't interested at all in something that was not portable.

    Thanks for posting the link. It was something to think about. and it does seem strange in that it isn't "normal." However, "normal" is more a term associated with behavior that society is willing to accept rather than what people would tend to do naturally. "Normal" also has no reflection on whether an accepted activity is healthful or harmful. Eating a SAD diet is certain normal but that doesn't mean it is a proper thing for a human to do.

    I was really surprised to hear that doctors think there is a correlation between IQ and breastfeeding. I wish they had commented on the childrens's immunity. That too would have been interesting.

  • Holy Cow! Wait, I didn't mean that.

    That's just disturbing. I mean, breastfeeding it natural but it's suppose to pretty much end (naturally) when the child can take solid foods, right?

    Someone made the comment on youtube about how it's natural and that it's no more wrong then when a father takes his young daughter into the mens' room. Sure, up to a certain age (age appropriate). You don't take an EIGHT YEAR OLD girl into the mens' room, right??!!

  • Oh my gosh, such ignorance and hysteria.

    Thanks for your reasonable response, Meditating.

    Obviously 8 years is extreme in any culture, but dangerous?

    Mass hysteria inducing?

    *massive eye roll*

    This whole "breasts are a taboo sex objects meant to be jiggled in the faces of adult men in dark, smoky strip bars or plastered across movie screens and magazine covers - but hidden from children" idea is ludicrous.

    Breasts are for breast feeding, and breast feeding is both physically and an emotionally nurturing act.

    Get over it.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    No you do not. It becomes inappropriate. The mother in that video seems to get some strange ego trip from breastfeeding those kids, who seem mildly retarded. Not from the breast milk, but from how dysfunctional it all is.

    Meditating, sometimes things are not considered normal because we have a collective reason to think they are damaging. It is not considered normal to be sexually attracted to children. Are you going to make a case for that now? I don't understand your wild comparison of a SAD diet to this breastfeeding. Even animals don't want to feed their kids milk once they can eat solid food.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    My turn for an eyeroll. What a black and white comparison. No one is saying breasts are damaging and should be hidden. No one is saying breasts should be uniquely sexual or displayed in magazines or anywhere for that matter for any reason.

    We are saying there is an unhealthy emotional dysfunction between these kids and their mother not encouraging them to be independent. And I don't recall one person using the word dangerous. Odd how that quote slipped into your "argument".

    Learn how to reason without using ridiculous extremes to make a non-point.

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    meditating, i love your point of view on this. i feel the same way. my aunt breastfed her kids until they didn't want it anymore- they were older than the usual age, too ( 6 and 8). it is only natural to want your mother's milk, so i don't see a problem with this. our society always wants to label things as good, bad, weird, or normal and it's annoying that such a big deal is made about this.

  • vegan2rawvegan2raw Raw Newbie

    Hi all I am a breastfeeding mamma weaning my almost 2 year old b/c I am pregnant. I also nursed my 3 and half year old until she was 3. The world health organization reccomends at least 2 years and in most countries where breastfeeding is the norm they do it until the kids are about 4-6. The immunity is amazing our kids have been sick maybe 4 or 5 times and even then they have never needed antibiotics or medical intervention. I have healed ear infections eye irritations cuts etc all by expelling milk into a dropper bottle and using it as medicine b/c my milk is specially formulated to their little systems. Once the children are eating food they only nurse like 4-6 times a day.

    I chose to wean my older child when she could understand it and also when I knew she was ready. The only adverse affects I have seen from too long on moms milk is if mom eats a diet very high in sugar then the child who breastfeeds till 6 or 8 can develop teeth problems. In my own opinion you should wean before there is this extreme emotional attachment because you want your children to be independent and I did find it strange that this woman lets her kids claim ownership over her and her breasts I have taught my children that milk is there to be nourishing and it is made for them but that it is also my body. Just as I respect their little body I want respect for mine as well. When weaning them there is important emotional independence that develops as well as your able to comfort them that even though they are out growing milk you will always be there for them. I think it is important to let kids make decisions but sometimes decisions must be encouraged like with potty training and brushing your teeth and weaning.

    Well that is my two cents worth but in no way should people see this as abuse or freakish b/c I think that intention is everything and this woman is not nursing with the intention of hurting her child she is doing what she thinks is right.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Oh come on, you all know those children were babyish. The nine year old girl I baby sat last summer looked like a public intellectual next to those girls!

    I worked in a day care center for a year and the kids would all be fine all day, but when there parents got there to pick them up they started acting like babies. Wanting to be picked up, feigning inability, whining.

    If we treat our kids like babies they will act worse than babies. Those kids may have good immune systems, but intellectually they looked like dullards compared to the bright kids I've known.

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    CARNAP - My comment regarding SAD eating was used to illustrate that what is accepted as normal is not always healthy or natural. That point was made very clear. What is considered normal is not the same as what is considered moral, ethical of just; although all 4 are primarily influenced by cultural values. It is those values that lead communities to believe whether or not something is "damaging."

    Even if they did not agree with the concept of extended breastfeeding, I doubt that anyone from a country where female breasts were viewed primarily as a means to nurse children and not as a sexual object intended to be hidden or paraded about would ever associate the practice with having a "sexual attraction to children." Your comparison is very much like the argument that if adults let their child sleep in bed with them at night they too must be motivated out of a sexual desire. Like beauty, perversion is in the eye of the beholder.

    I don't know how your comments directed at me could be considered a response to my post since I never indicated my opinion on the topic but instead spoke on the effect of culture in how we see things. That has nothing to do with making a case for adult sexual attraction to children. Clearly, your comments were not on a response to my views but your own.

    I doubt that if this mother were speaking exactly as she did in this video on a topic you approved of she would not be seen by you as being on "some strange ego trip." There was nothing overt in her presentation to indicate this or that there existed an "unhealthy emotional dysfunction between these kids and their mother."

    Children, like adults, behave differently when around people or in situations they are unfamiliar with. Under those circumstances, it is expected they may not exhibit their normal personality, body language, or speech. While adults may react by being more reserved or guarded in those circumstances, children often react more shyly which is their version of the same thing. Being interviewed or filmed, whether by someone known or a stranger, is a perfect scenario where this might happen.

    It was harsh for you to see this short video of these young children, who are being both interviewed and filmed, and determine them to be "mildly retarded," "babyish," and "dullards." With the possible exception of down syndrome and the like, a person's IQ cannot be determined by one's physical appearance. Observing someone's ability to think logically and communicate their thoughts is a much better measure. You can determine a great deal more about one's intellect by what they write than the way they look.

    However, I do agree with the quote from your previous post that we should: "Learn how to reason without using ridiculous extremes to make a non-point." That was very good advice and I hope all those reading this post will consider it in the future.

  • Blue_EyesBlue_Eyes Raw Master

    ok after reading the comments on here I had to go and watch it.

    those kids seemed perfectly normal kids to me. They were playing music come on they are pretty smart girls.

    they were being asked questions and to me they did a great job about being filmed on this topic.

    are you sure you werent holding their accents against them. just because they speak differently than you does not mean they are retarded

    I unfortunatly was not able to breastfeed my girls, a missed experience for us not to mention the lost benefits to them.

  • Hmmm can't believe a natural activity is considered so tabooo. Society really has our brains twisted. From a more technical stand point...for the first 24 months of life a child's immune system is taken from the mother thru the breast feeding process. Thus the reason breast fed children are usually much MUCH healthier than those not breast fed.

    As for the age...I myself believe that everyone of us [especially children because they have not disconnected from listening to their body not outside influences] inherently know when they no longer need their mother's milk. I will admit, I'm not sure I would keep wanting to breast feed once the child has a full set of choppers LOL

    Peace

    lo~

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    I think it's absurd and unnatural to breastfeed kids for so long. I think that the mother probably made an imprint on the children's minds that they NEED to breastfeed at some point and eventually the child comes to believe it too.

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    ZINFANDEL - I suspect you are right. It does seem odd that an 8 year old still wants to breastfeed. If that is the case, it goes back to the cultural influences around the children as to whether or not they think it is acceptable. I suspect it isn't something they discuss at school with their friends or they are homeschooled. Children are very susceptible to peer pressure These children live in Europe, where this would generally be taboo, so imagine how they would be teased by their friends. Once they realize how socially unacceptable, I suspect they would want to stop straight away.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Meditating, I think you painfully misunderstood me, by reading your post that has nothing to do with what I said or meant.

    I'm not talking about equating prolonged breast feeding with sexual attraction to children AT ALL.

    Now that nobody understands what the other people are saying, I think the debate's gotten pretty boring. I'm out.

    Sure, maybe those kids were being filmed, maybe they are brilliant. But...who cares? They are just some kids on a youtube video, a video, I believe, meant to shock people a bit, or the media would not have bothered.

    Now why would I hold their accents against them. I live abroad, I deal with people of several nationalities, I have a certificate of teaching from Cambridge Uni, have babysat half brit kids.... um. um. um.

    I guess I have just know some exceptional children compared to these normal ones. Normal now seems like dull to me compared to the kids I've known.

    Is that politically correct enough for y'all?

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    I just mean... I thought the video was funny. I treate all my comments as half second degree.

    I really don't care that much about this topic.

  • Meditating: The argument that "it is wrong because society says so" is a valid one. However, some people will take this argument to the extreme. I have heard people saying that the only reason child molestation is wrong is because of the way the world percieves it. People will argue, by evolutionary means, that the goal of evolution is to survive and reproduce, and if these functions are not physically damaged, nothing else could be considered as "bad". In other words, that which is not physically threatening to this domain is not threatening to evolution and hence it is only bad in the way society sees it.

    However, there is another part to this argument, mainly that, some societal norms and morality are an aspect of psychological evolutionary adaptation. So, if something is psychologically/mentally damaging only because of the way it is socially percieved, it still has the potential to do an equal amount of damage to an individual and hence should not be, by any means, underestimated. When we, as humans, developed conscious though, things that brought us no harm before suddenly became threatening to our existance. Ever heard the phrase that thinking too much can kill you? My point is, yes I agree that some things are damaging because of sociological norms, but they STILL cause harm. In some cases, things that are not physically threatening but are socially stigmatized can cause irreversible mental/emotional damage, as is the case with child sexual molestation (not talking about rape, which is physically damaging) when the child begins to rationalize why something so bad happened to them.

    Ok, to all the pro-breast people, can you take your argument a little further? I mean, maybe I was missing something when I read my biological books and thought that the purpose of breastfeeding was to feed the child until he/she was completely physically able to feed themselves. I don't remember reading anything in those books about how some species of animals feed their children until they are independantly able to do so themselves. But then again, maybe I am hugely misinformed and need your help in explaining to me the phyisiological need of breastfeeding your child until they are 8 years old.

    The reason why I am seeing this as mentally damaging, at least to some extent, is because these children seem to be lacking independence and have some sort of fixation on their mother's breasts. I am not saying this is anything sexual at all, but they are clearly obsessed and I do believe that any form of obsession/fixation can lead to some psychological mishaps. Caring for your children is great, and to each their own, but when your children start telling you when you can and cannot wear a bra and start drawing and naming your breasts, I mean, really need I say more? I beg to differ.

    I love all of the people who make arguments based mostly on personal dogmas and sentiments as opposed to rational/scientific-based thought. Just because something is "natural" (such a broad term...) or organic doesn't necessarily make it good for you. You can deny gravity all you want, but when you trip and fall flat on your face, that's the thing that's bringing you down.

    And I am done. Now excuse me while I go eat organic poison ivy and wash it down with some fresh breast milk.

  • rawmamanibblesrawmamanibbles Raw Newbie

    I dont see anything wrong with it.

  • vegan2rawvegan2raw Raw Newbie

    Carnap this is off topic but maybe you should consider evaluating your own words and actions you sound very judgmental in the last response. If you were to hear that someone you wanted to marry was breastfed till 6 if it changed how you felt about them what does it say about YOU.

  • Blue_EyesBlue_Eyes Raw Master

    YES vegan2raw, you beat me to it.

    That was what I was thinking when I read that.

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Lol, to bring this topic back to the way I like it, what would you all do if your fianc

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Does anybody here like second degree, cynical, dry humor?

    I'm feeling pretty alone here.

  • Blue_EyesBlue_Eyes Raw Master

    sorry carnap, I just dont know how to take you, your comments on other threads confuse me on what you are really about. they just dont seem to stay on the same track.

  • vegan2rawvegan2raw Raw Newbie

    Yeah Blue Eyes I have noticed that too. I think you might feel alone Carnap b/c I know from my own opinion the world is so negative and cynical and just plain sucky right now that I come to this site for the open minded non judgmental accepting vibe that most everyone has here. So as a nursing mom I was surprised by some of the comments on here. I know many women who have stopped nursing at like 6 months to a year all b/c of the fear and judgment of others you never know what kind of affect your shocked face or judging comment can have until your in that persons shoes.

    Peace

  • This is like something out of a psychoanalytic theory text book. Adults - of any species - are supposed to protect their children and guide them into being independent functioning beings. 8 years old and on the teet is not an independent functioning being. I'm not sure how anyone can truly view this as healthy for those children. The attachment they have formed - and that she is encouraging - is a prime case of arrested development. I would guess that this woman has fears of her children growing up and no longer needing her, and she gets a pleasure from feeding them from her body and feeling their dependance on her for survival. The kids don't know any better - and I hope they don't mention this to their friends, because I can't imagine the school yard taunts given to an 8 year old who snacks at her mother's breast and names it. The image of the children drawing pictures of the breast are shocking - if I had read this in a Freud case study, I would have thought he had invented it.

    I do disagree that the kids look mentally disturbed in any way- they just look pale and british...(sorry). I have no doubt, however, that these kids are developing some large psychological issues that will be present for the rest of their lives.

    I feel like calling my mom and thanking her for allowing me to grow up on schedule. I'm truly disturbed by this.

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