“I started bringing up this issue when she was still breastfeeding at age two,” the man wrote on the community channel, who did not want to be named.
While the initial concerns raised were given lightly, even joking that their daughter will have to stop when she goes to secondary school, the matter is no longer a laughing matter.
“I am beyond jokes now,” said the frustrated father, who is enraged at how “an intelligent and reasonable person” could still be breastfeeding a seven-year-old child.
While honouring that his ex-partner is a “very involved, caring, nurturing and self-sacrificing mother”, he is disturbed by what is still going on.
“I think she’s just damaged emotionally on some level, which is the root cause of this bizarre attachment problem,” he rationalised.
“She keeps saying that she’s working on it, but that mostly she’ll stop when our daughter ‘is ready’ to stop,” the father stated.
“We’ve had the discussion numerous times… words and words, no action. This is wrong on so many levels.”
The father added: “Part of the issue is she won’t sleep over at my place because she is used to always sleeping with mummy and more than occasionally breastfeeding still.
Someone help.”
One Reddit commentator said: “I work in school-based mental health. Reading this, what worries me is that your daughter is not learning how to self-soothe in developmentally appropriate ways.
“A seven-year-old should have other alternatives to sooth herself to sleep. I would look into seeing if you can get your daughter into [seeing] a therapist…
“They would probably be able to do some digging into why breastfeeding at seven is still happening, whether that be of your daughter’s choice or your ex’s.”
Another commentator, Babu_Bunny_1996 said: “I feel like you are not going to get anywhere by continuing to tell your ex how gross you find this.”
The NHS said exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for around the first six months of a baby’s life.
The health body adds: “You and your baby can carry on enjoying the benefits of breastfeeding for as long as you like.”
Do note, however, that the term “baby” is used when encouraging breastfeeding, and not a small child.
“Breastfeeding into your baby’s second year or beyond, alongside other foods, is ideal,” the NHS adds.
“You and your toddler can continue to enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding for as long as you want to.”
Again, the key word here is “toddler”, which reaches up to the age of three only.
