A mother who uploaded a photo of her breastfeeding her four-year-old son has defended her decision after she was heavily criticised the boy was too old for it. Photo / Facebook
A mother who uploaded a photo of her breastfeeding her four-year-old son has defended her decision after she was heavily criticised the boy was too old for it. Photo / Facebook
A mother has been slammed for breastfeeding her four-year-old son.
Riona O'Connor, 38, a mummy blogger from Ireland, uploaded a photo of herself breastfeeding her son at an outdoor cafe.
In the image, Ms O'Connor cradles her son as she breastfeeds him, but many have said the boy is too old to be breastfed, news.com.au reports.
In the post, which was in honour of her boy's fourth birthday, Ms O'Connor told her 125,000 followers her decision to continue breastfeeding her son had given her "a sense of pride and joy she didn't think was possible".
The 38-year-old, who also has a four-month-old boy, said her decision to continue breastfeeding her older child had given her 'pride and joy'. Photo / Facebook
"He's four today. I'm so in love with and proud of everything he is. I'm so proud of what he's made me become," Ms O'Connor explained on her Facebook page The Unnatural Woman.
"I never thought that when the midwife first laid him on my breast that I would still be doing this for years later."
Ms O'Connor, who is also a comedian, went on to say her decision hadn't come without its challenges
"If you know me you know my self-esteem can be through the floor at times," she said.
"Those times I've thought, I might not be able to do much but I can do this. So thank you my body but mostly thank you my baby for coming into my life."
Her post has garnered more than 3000 mixed reactions, comments and shares since she posted it on Monday.
Riona O'Connor, who goes by the blog name 'The Unnatural Woman', has been slammed after she uploaded a photo of herself breastfeeding her four-year-old son. Photo / Facebook
Many of the comments slam the mother-of-two's decision, with one person going as far as saying it's "child abuse".
A 55-year-old man said he had vivid memories from the ages of three and four and "definitely would not want to be able to remember nursing my mothers tit or should I?"
"Here's a good rule of thumb for discontinuing breastfeeding. If the child is old enough to tell you that they are thirsty, then they are too old to breastfeed. This borders on child abuse in my opinion," he continued.
Many were quick to slam the man, as they explained the benefits of breastfeeding.
"There Is nothing better for a child than breastfeeding Educate yourself on the benefits of natural weening process," a woman said in response to his comment.
He's three months old today. It didn't go in the blink of an eye, it went in real time. Real love, real exhaustion, real...
"Just leave the page if you're disgusted by this. Breastfeeding till 4 is completely natural," added another woman.
Others questioned the benefits of breastfeeding a four-year-old, asking whether it was more of a "comfort thing".
"Genuinely curious — is there any health benefit to breastfeeding a four-year-old (assuming that at 4, they're eating a wide variety of solid food and have access to clean water)? Or is it more of a comfort thing at this point?"
Another woman admitted she may get "bashed" for her comment but told Ms O'Connor while she was all for breastfeeding, her son was "too old to be on your breast".
"I kind of feel bad for this kid because he is going to have some major issues growing up. And unrealistic expectations of women. That being said it's no ones business what you do."
Others just continued to thank the mum for her positive approach and "normalising natural term breastfeeding and tandem feeding".
"Hopefully all people will get a better understanding one day what is biologically normal for humans and what isn't," one said.
Another added: "Congratulations on your breastfeeding journey. Take my hat off to you."
