Mother Plans To Breastfeed Daughter Till Age 10, Still Breastfeeding Her At Age 6

Extended breastfeeding is highly unusual in today’s world, which is
why 6-year-old Amina’s case is making headlines. At age 52, her
mother – belly dancing expert and human rights activist Maha Al
Musa – is one of the oldest women in the world to be
breastfeeding. Scoop has more:
Although she’s garnering a lot of interest and some criticism, Maha
says that she’s only responding to her daughter’s natural desire.
“Sometimes it tastes like candy canes. It tastes like lots of different
things,” said Amina, who reportedly enjoys “sleeping and sucking”
her mother’s breasts, and plans to continue for at least another two
years. “I might stop when I’m eight. It’s my favorite thing to do
when I’m not at school.
More kids should, because it’s good for you,” the little girl added.
According to Maha, who lives and raises her children in the
Australian town of Byron Bay, breastfeeding an older child is
“perfectly natural,” even in public. “She says to me, ‘Mummy
milkie.’ I could be in the middle of doing something or talking and
it’s so natural to us, we don’t make a big deal of it,” she said.
Although critics say the practice does not provide nutritional
benefits over the age of one, Maha disagrees. “chest milk helps to
regulate a child’s blood sugar so for example a toddler having a
tantrum can be calmed through the chest milk,” she said. “Two
years ago when I was 50 and Aminah was 4.5 I had my chest milk
tested at the University of WA biochemistry department where they
do a lot of research on human milk. This was the first time they had
tested a woman’s milk of my age group and I can report that my
milk still had all the properties and nutrients relative to that of a
woman half my age with a smaller baby has. So this fact is worth
noting when people’s opinion claims chest milk has no nutrients
after a child reaches one year of age.”