For older generations, breastfeeding was the only way for babies to get nutrition. According to Wikipedia, infant formula wasn’t even invented until 1867.
Even after it was, most women continued to breastfeed babies, toddlers, and young children for economic reasons and convenience.
However, despite the fact that that the World Health Organization calls breast milk “the ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants” breastfeeding rates in the U.S. drop drastically after the baby is six months old.
While only 27 percent of babies are breastfed at 12 months, Leanne Allerton has chosen to breastfeed her children far beyond that.
Allerton, 35, has a loyal YouTuber fan base that follows all of the videos she posts where she’s breastfeeding her children. Her most recent video, which shows her breastfeeding her 4-year-old daughter Poppy, has gotten more than 1 million views.
While she has many fans, she also has many haters.
“I post breastfeeding videos when I feel like talking about things because there will always be someone out there who is going through the same thing,” Allerton said, according to Daily Mail. “You get a lot of nice suggestions but also a lot of abuse – those I tend to block and delete. But I’m shocked by how many views it has had.”
In her video, Allerton explains that breastfeeding her daughter serves more as a way to bond with her daughter and for her daughter to feel comforted, rather than a means of providing her with nutrition. She tries to only breastfeed her daughter before bed.
She has breastfed all four of her kids over the last 8 years and currently still breastfeeds her 5-year-old son in addition to Poppy.
“He was still quite young and I didn’t want to say no,” she said. “But I got through all the hard stages and we got into a flow where it became effortless. I just knew it helped settle him and I didn’t want to take that away.”
Allerton says she is proud of her herself and happy that’s she’s breastfed for so long. Others disagree with Allerton’s choices.
“That girl too damn big to be breastfeeding,” one YouTuber wrote.
“There’s no way you’re still producing milk if she’s 5,” another said. “She’s simply sucking your tit at this point, ew.”
The American Association of Pediatrics disagrees with the haters and says breastfeeding should continue “for as long as mutually desired by mother and baby.”
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