A mother who still breastfeeds her two boys, aged five and six, has said she won’t stop until they decide they are ready – despite one son claiming he wants to be nursed until he is 10.

Sheryl Wynne, 39, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, says that breastfeeding her school-aged sons is ‘completely normal’ as it has cemented a lifelong bond between them and made them ‘closer’.

The mother-of-two breastfeeds both Riley, six, and Mylo, five, before school, in the evening and throughout the night – and has even fed them in the pre-school playground.

Sheryl argues that ‘mummy milk’ is the ‘ultimate parenting tool’ as it helps calm the children and comforts them when they’re upset or ill.

However Sheryl says she does receive negative comments from strangers and even family members, who question if the ‘way her children behave’ is down to them still being breastfed – but Sheryl argues that ‘that’s children’.

Although she originally planned to stop breastfeeding the boys when Riley was three, she wants them to be part of the decision – and he has said he won’t stop until he’s ten.

Sheryl, a hypnobirthing teacher and doula, said: ‘I think about when I’ll stop all of the time.

‘It’s never felt right to end it unnecessarily. It’s what they’re asking for and it’s biologically normal even if it’s not in society.

‘We started the conversation when Riley was three when they would stop having mummy milk and Riley said when he’s ten and I told him there’s no chance.

‘The choice isn’t just mine, it’s a relationship because it’s something we do together.

‘It’s not like I don’t have a choice, a lot of the time they ask for it and I’ll tell them to get off. I do wonder if they’d just stay on there all night.

‘It’s made us closer. It’s the fact they know they can come to me and be comforted any time.’

She continued: ‘We can do that without breastfeeding, a lot of people who aren’t breastfeeding will still respond to that but it’s part of my toolbox.

‘It’s formed part of our relationship and that’s my main drive for continuing breastfeeding.’

Despite negative comments from family and friends, Sheryl sees breastfeeding as a way to connect with her sons, even using it to comfort them in the school playground.

Sheryl said: ‘It’s about comfort. If they’re ill, that’s where they want to be to help them calm down but we don’t live in a society that’s supportive of that after infancy which is why we don’t see it.

‘They want to be with me and snuggle with me even when they aren’t breastfeeding.

‘I’ve been pretty lucky in that I haven’t had negative comments from strangers but family members and people I know have asked if I think I should stop.

‘They question whether the way my children behave is anything to do with them being breastfed. They’re hard work but that’s children.

‘People think they’re experts in other people’s children but I’m not doing it blind even though I am following my instincts in many ways’.

She added: ‘Riley and Mylo pick up on people’s opinions. My eldest wouldn’t ask for it when we’re out because he knows other people will see but he will behind closed doors but my youngest is confident.

‘Before Mylo went into preschool he was asking for mummy milk in the playground in the morning.

‘He took me to the bench and I had to dig deep into myself. I wanted to tell him we weren’t doing it there because people could see but I didn’t want to pass my anxieties onto him.’

Sheryl says was determined to breastfeed Mylo because she struggled to nurse Riley following a difficult birth.

She added that breastfeeding helped her to overcome the trauma of giving birth and strengthened her connection with her sons.

Sheryl tandem fed the pair until they were too big to be fed at the same time.

Sheryl said: ‘Breastfeeding helped me to keep that connection going and I had it in my head that I wanted to tandem breastfeed. It felt magical and empowering to be sustaining two babies at the same time.

‘I had a traumatic birth and because of that experience I felt like I a failure. I felt like I hadn’t done it right so I needed the breastfeeding relationship to succeed.

‘It wasn’t until I started breastfeeding Riley that I learned what it was about. It was a lot harder than I thought.

‘It wasn’t physically bad but emotionally it was hard. It might have been easier if I’d known more about it.

‘It’s hard to give all of yourself to this little person and not give yourself a break.

‘To get to where I am now couldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone on to have my healing birth with Mylo. Everything changed after that.

‘When I was pregnant with Mylo I thought I didn’t have long left with Riley because the milk had reduced but when I had Mylo and the milk came Riley was like ‘oh wow’.

‘When I was feeling full of milk I would ask Riley to breastfeed and he would help with that.’

Sheryl hopes she can dispel some of the myths surrounding natural term breastfeeding, the practice of nursing until the child chooses to wean.

Sheryl said: ‘I don’t feel like I ever made the decision to breastfeed. It’s what I always imagined doing and it felt quite natural.

‘I remember playing with dolls while little and pretending to breastfeed them because I thought that’s what you do and that’s where milk comes from. That’s what I wanted to do.

‘It was a really nice experience for all three of us to do that together. Riley would reach out and stroke Mylo’s head or hold his hand and that’d how I felt it was supposed to be and I was a lot more confident with my own body.’

Source: https://www.newsmond.com/mother-who-breastfeeds-her-five-and-six-year-old-sons/

Back then our mothers especially in the villages breastfed like this.

The children even bring seats for them to sit down so they can do their thing.


Changing times and the economy made everyone busier and weaning off breast comes earlier now.





It's nothing nothing novel.



Nairaland redpillers wishing they're the ones being breastfed.

Oh 21 century! what a time to be alive.

Our NIGERIAN mothers go say--"Madam,stop am jorh,you wor kill yourself" "Na this old men you still dey breastfeed". Like say na their breast the mother dey use......For breasts wey no concern them .

Normally,na so e sure be . Breastfeed your pikin until him brain go mature well . Unlike most of us for here,na just three months dem breastfeed us . How that kind person go take get sense self? . The part of the brain wey feeding bottle water dey go many pass where breast milk suppose occupy

Breast wey her husband supposed dey suck..

If na me be the husband I go don retire those children with better slaps by now..

I see nothing wrong

I can't do this.

Ahmback:
Oh 21 century!
what a time to be alive.

The milk factory is huge and thriving.

Imagine if Buhari mother had given him breast even till 30 years. His brain would have developed well.


How can they breast feed our Gen. Failure for 30 minutes then send him to NDA with toilet roll as WAEC certificate.

TarOrfeeek:
Imagine if Buhari mother had given him breast even till 30 years. His brain would have developed well.


How can they breast feed our Gen. Failure for 30 minutes then send him to NDA with toilet roll as WAEC certificate.

If this your mouth no put you for wahala u no go rest, but the truth is that a dullard is a dullard even if soak him inside breast milk or you breastfed him from now till when Jesus comes.

Who him head empty don empty

Longsleeve:
Breast wey her husband supposed dey suck..

If na me be the husband I go don retire those children with better slaps by now..

BeeBeeOoh:
If this your mouth no put you for wahala u no go rest, but the truth is that a dullard is a dullard even if soak him inside breast milk or you breastfed him from now till when Jesus comes.

Who him head empty don empty

Both of you are crazy. I thought you wanted to correct him, not until you buttressed his point.

I'm rolling right now.

Hathor5:
I can't do this.

Why?

MufasaLion:


Both of you are crazy. I thought you wanted to correct him, not until you buttressed his point.

I'm rolling right now.

No put me for wahala o abegew

BeeBeeOoh:
No put me for wahala o abegew

They are coming for you.

I don't know if there's age limit for breastfeeding or not but I see no wrong in what she is doing though she could've kept the pictures to herself.

She is a proud mom of two little men, that's all I care to notice.

I see those kids growing up to like sucking breasts so much, I see them sucking their girlfriend's breasts in public when they are adults.

This I have seen.

Is she a working Mom?
Does she have a husband?

I think she's using it to delay her menses cos that's the reason someone gave me some time ago when I asked why she was still breastfeeding her two year old toddler.

The highest I can go is a year and six months. but I happen to have a system that stops menses while breastfeeding, I fit breastfeed for ten Years .

MufasaLion:


Why?

I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 5 or 6 year old boy sucking on my breast and at some point I also want my body back. 9 months pregnancy and 12 months to max. 18 months of breastfeeding is quite a long time in which my body is no longer completely mine.

This is so bad, it is almost sad. The kids are at that age when they are curious about the difference in female/male body parts fa....soon they will start sexualizing the whole thing. I can almost imagine them growing up to like 3some

Hathor5:


I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 5 or 6 year old boy sucking on my breast and at some point I also want my body back. 9 months pregnancy and 12 months to max. 18 months of breastfeeding is quite a long time in which my body is no longer completely mine.

All right.

Seems like she lacks a man in her life, no way in hell she won't be aroused by this, mothers are told to stop breastfeeding before 2 years old, hers is wrong, very wrong.

She is breastfeeding older kids? Ew, God. What the hell is wrong with her?

Breastfeeding is natural, good for mother and baby, but not for school aged children.