Many parenting pages, blogs and media/news company covered my story. So yes, I did get a lot of attention, that’s when I realized the importance of this piece of information:
Had it not be me that day, but let’s say a new or expecting mom, maybe an older mother, she could have been easily fooled in believing what those women where saying to be true.
Mothers question themselves for a thousand different reasons, every minute of every day. They shouldn’t also be dealing with false and inaccurate information that can lead to wrong choices and decisions. When it comes to the subject of breastfeeding…oh dear God! Nowadays, many have taken up the habit of defending their way of thinking with a “everybody is entitled to their own opinion” phrase. Well let’s see…actually NO! Opinions can be wrong in themselves. Uneducated opinions can be damaging and must be corrected wherever possible. That is why when I heard yet another ridiculous comment in regards to a breastfeeding mother, I HAD to fight back. And I did.
Ageism is an important topic that mothers must be educated about.
Lactation Consultant Jan Barger explains how the quality of breast milk does not change over time. Regardless of your age, socioeconomic status, length of time you have been breastfeeding, country of origin, or any other parameters you want to consider, breast milk remains high quality and chock-full of nutrients and antibodies.
Regardless of your age, socioeconomic status, length of time you have been breastfeeding, country of origin, or any other parameters you want to consider, breast milk remains high quality and chock-full of nutrients and antibodies.
Research conducted on the EFFECT OF ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE UPON HUMAN MILK FAT CONTENT shows that the colostrum fat content of older mothers is much higher than that of younger mothers.
Breastfeeding is often HARD but it is the best a mother can offer her child and as such should be respected, supported. Not judged.
To deny the power and numerous benefits of breastfeeding – AT ANY AGE – is to deny the WONDER that is a woman’s body. It is wanting to make it less than the wonderful, perfect machine it really is.
Why anyone would want to do that, is beyond me. This is the thing to be “freaked out” about, not a mother using what nature gave her to nourish her child.
My belief is that no woman who is able to and WANTS to breastfeed should EVER fail because of lack of or wrong information.
Education is the KEY in debunking some ridiculous breastfeeding myths and in giving moms the real support they need to SUCCEED.
Stefania is a mama to two children and blogger at Mama’s Word. You can also find her on Facebook and join her closed extended breastfeeding group, for a more private chat.
Hi there, thanks for sharing such amazing post with us. Really a useful one. Keep sharing.
Just found this archived article. My mom just called to tell me she was in conversation with a lactation consultant a few days ago. The woman was FLABBERGASTED to learn that I was able to breastfeed my twins successfully…. due to my advanced maternal age. My twins were born at 34 weeks… exactly 3 weeks before I turned 50!
While I had to take advantage of the hospital’s donor breast milk program (the twins came emergency c-section, so I had to really work at getting my milk to come in), I have strictly breastfed from the day I left the hospital. Mama friends who came over to my house to help with the twins joked that my stored milk in the fridge looked like buttermilk!..lol.. I’m 5 months in and my twins have grown from 4.5 lbs to 14.5lbs over that time. The twins actually outpaced the preemie growth charts, so my pediatrition is just measuring them against babies that were born at term. As far as production goes, I’m averaging about 1-1/2 liters of milk a day (I pump in addition to breastfeeding, which is how I came to that estimate).
I have no idea why anyone – let alone a lactation consultant – would suggest that I’m “lucky” I have any milk at all. And I would gladly participate in any studies gauging the quality of breastmilk from women of an advanced age. Women HALF my age said their breastmilk looked almost blue, it was so thin. It seems there is a staggering amount of misinformation out there. And sheepeople tend to repeat whatever they hear (or think they heard) in passing instead of researching it themselves. Thank you for this article & broaching the agism subject in relationship to breastfeeding. It was never my goal to be a 2nd time mom at 50, but it’s how the chips fell for us. I wouldn’t trade our girls for the world. I’m always disappointed by anyone who feels it’s their ‘obligation’ to point out that we’re too old to be parents. Whatever… I prefer to believe that the haters are just jealous of my ability to handle twin infants and a 5yo like a boss, regardless of age.
I gave birth to our youngest, thw 6th, child at 46 years old.
To start with, I married at 29, gave birth at ages 30,32,34,37,39 ans 46. All natural birth and blessing indeed that I was able to breastfed them all. Our youngest took 4 years before he finally stopped being breastfed. I had to force him, though.
After being away for almost 2 weeks from him, I found out that I still produced milk. But I had to wean our youngest because he was too old already.
This is my story.
If I’d be given the chance to breastfeed again, I will do it joyfully for our first grandchild.