Is the Mother Who Breastfeeds Her 3-Year-Old Triplets Extreme?
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A mother of triplets says she’s not ready to stop breastfeeding — even though her daughters are three years old.
Davina Wright, a 45-year-old mother-of-five living in Hong Kong, described her decision to nurse toddlers Willow, Connor, and Summer as a bonding ritual before bedtime and first thing in the morning. “They each have their own room and I go in to each of them individually and it is a lovely bit of one-on-one time,” Wright told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. Wright, who nursed her other two children (now adults) until they were 13-months-old, had initially set a two-year goal for nursing her triplets, but three years later, she says the practice still works for her family.
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“My kids walk and talk and eat solid food and drink from a cup and are independent and have a full set of teeth… all the things that people point out as reasons for weaning, but in actuality a child can do all these things and still be breastfed,” Wright told the Daily Mail.
However, despite her conviction, there is one place that Wright won’t nurse. “I really only say no to them now… when we are out in public. I say that we will wait until we are home for that now, simply because I am aware of how many eyes are on us.”
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The benefits of breastfeeding are well documented — from higher childhood IQ scores, stronger immune systems, and decreased incidence of SIDS — and the decision to breastfeed on a long-term basis is a highly personalized one. According to La Leche League, the nonprofit organization for breastfeeding support, women should nurse for “as long as they wish” and the World Health Organization states that two years of nursing is optimal for a child’s health. “Extended breastfeeding,” defined by the Mayo Clinic as nursing beyond the first year of a baby’s life, is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics as long as the mother and baby “wish to continue.”
However, women who breastfeed for longer periods of time often face backlash (cue the controversial 2012 Time magazine cover on which a mother nursed her almost-four-year-old son accompanied by the coverline, “Are You Mom Enough?”) for taking attachment parenting to the extreme.
“In my practice, I rarely see patients who breastfeed their babies past the age of 18 months or two years,” Lauren Crosby, MD, a pediatrician at La Peer Pediatrics in Beverly Hills, Calif., tells Yahoo Parenting. “Every situation is different, however, we generally advise women to stop nursing after the first year because by that point, most of a baby’s nutritional needs specific to breast milk have been met.” What’s more, says Crosby, nursing toddlers may have difficulty weaning and developing their independence. And those whose diet is mainly comprised of breast milk may not gain adequate weight for their age.
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However, for Wright, the experience has been nothing but positive. “It has been everything to their lives, it has slowly changed to being a very small part of their lives, and one day it will be a distant memory in their lives,” she told the Daily Mail. “A breastfeeding relationship is between a mother and child and they are the only people who should have a say in how long it continues. The beauty being that every mother gets to decide for herself. I know that extended, or natural-term breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, and that is okay. I would say to people if it’s not for you then don’t do it, simple as that.”
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