“I’m Disgusted About How You Have Shamed Me”: Mom Confronts A Woman Who Questioned The Age Of Her Breastfed Kid

People can be bizarrely cruel to tall toddlers/preschoolers, not to mention kids with developmental disabilities. If you see a kid "not acting their age" just keep your comments to yourself. There is probably a good reason. Since he started to walk people have generally assumed my oldest son to be 1-3 years older than he really is. Nope, just tall. Strangers were not kind when he acted like a normal toddler, when he was a toddler.

Yep, this was my thought too. The child could have only been 3. I'm the mom of insanely huge child. (His dad and I are both extremely tall.) When he was 3 people typically thought he was at least 5. Very verbal too, which added to confusion. And frankly people were often AHs about it, judging why he couldn't pump himself on the swing was in the kiddie pool, etc. But in other cultures it's also much more common to breastfeed up to 5. Plus it's not hurting anyone, so I would have just minded mine own business and discussed with my child later.

Agreed, we have friends who have an absolutely enormous toddler - he looks like he's 5 or 6. It's unfortunate, because even people who should know better expect the kid to be more mature than he's capable of being.

Had tall friends, who in turn had a son who was tall. at 2 looked like 4. The mom went over to the play area and asked if the older children would slow down the merry-go-round as it was too fast for her 2 y old. they replied '" oh ,we thought he was retarded" (It was in the 80's) They did with no other disrespect and with understanding.

i looked older as a kid i feel this hows 10th grade going maam in in 8th

I knew a couple once whose son was the size of a 1-2 year old at 3 months! Some kids just grow fast. Who wants to be the one saying a 3 month old shouldn't have breast milk?

Add to that it sounds like it's a school day (based on them talking about pre-school). If the boy really was older, why wouldn't he be in school? This sounds like it is in the UK based on the use of the words 'mummy'' and 'pre-school'. Under 5 he wouldn't need to be. Sounds like he could very well be a lot younger than they believe. She could have dealt with it better as well, her daughter could have been told that some mothers make different choices about breastfeeding and that it is down to the individual. Never to early to learn that people don't all do the same thing.

Yes, my friends kid was wearing the same clothes as his brother who is 3 years older...that kid is a behemoth and I love him.

I had the same issue with my son always looking older. When he was not even 1 yet I was shamed by an old YT lady at the store because he was still "talking like a baby at 3!" When I told her she doubled his age she acted like I don't know my own baby's age and huffed away lmao

I’m short, one of my girls was (as a little girl), her younger sister wasn’t. I was often asked if they were twins. Youngest is now 14 and asked for learner’s licence (for driving) to prove ID. Yeah, won’t be happening until next year (she’s almost 15).

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Why can not they select some quite place? Instead of in open spaces upsetting many people?

The thing is, there's a number of possible reasons: - the kid is much younger, just tall for his age - the kid has some sort of developmental disorder and for whatever reason, his doctor is recommending prolonged nursing - the mother has some kind of cultural or philosophical reason for prolonged nursing - the mother is just having a really hard time letting go of the young-child period Since the reason is unknown, as long as the kid doesn't seem abused or neglected, the only possible option is for everyone else to mind their own business.

Why does she need to justify it, though?

There's no reason to think the (imaginary) child is six? This person made up this entire exchange. Do you really think she had that discussion with her (imaginary) daughter? No. This never happened. Had it though, we only have this (completely unreliable) narrator's word that the child is six. He could be big for his age, it happens. Even were he actually six, perhaps he has autism or some other developmental disability that makes extended breastfeeding the best choice. Extended breastfeeding is much more common in some other countries than here and frankly it's no one else's business besides that mom and that child, with possible input from a pediatrician. When I was breastfeeding my kids, I thought when they were grown breastfeeding would be normal and no one would question it, and yet, all these years later, here we are still judging women on their parenting choices and thrusting formula at every woman. Shameful.

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Either for attachment or the calorie loss. It’s like a workout each time you feed so maybe she likes to do it for that reason

That irked me as well.