Althouse: "Extreme Breastfeeding."

May 30, 2015

"Extreme Breastfeeding."

The name of a new reality show that will be on The Discovery Channel.

I learned about it from an article titled "Most Support This Mom’s Right to Breastfeed in Public. Then They Realize How Old the Kid Is…."

The child is 6. She's quoted saying: "Sometimes it tastes like candy canes... It tastes like lots of different things." And: "I might stop when I’m eight." And: "It’s my favourite thing to do when I’m not at school. More kids should, because it’s good for you."

It's good to protect and nurture your children. You can do that by breastfeeding them and you can do that by keeping them out of the media. I don't know how many months or years of breastfeeding are ideal, but I'm pretty sure that zero is the right answer to the question How many reality shows should a kid be on?

By the way, the 6-year-old child is named Aminah. I imagine that's pronounced "a mynah." A mynah bird is known as the most able mimic of all the talking birds. When a 6-year-old makes an assertion like "More kids should, because it’s good for you," I think it's a safe bet that she is mimicking an adult. In this case, there is a mother who seems to be seeking narcissistic satisfaction, which — who knows? — might taste like candy canes.

37 comments:

Etienne said...: Breast feeding is no longer needed, after the first couple of months. All the nutrients have been transferred, and normal child growth will make the task uncomfortable. With technology today, you can have a whole fridge worth of breast milk, if you're into that. Going to a bottle is the best way to ween the child later.

Any child still breast feeding past age three, is going to have severe social problems. The parents will be thought of as retarded as well.

It's abnormal to breast feed a child, who is old enough to milk a cow in the barn.; 5/30/15, 11:40 AM
Meade said...: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, of the mystery of human life, [and of when it's time to stop breastfeeding]. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State [or of the opinions of blog commenters].”; 5/30/15, 11:43 AM
traditionalguy said...: I take it the show is sponsored by Hooters. The kid must soon graduate from breast milk to mommie's barbeque chicken wings.

But this show must be so very hurtful to women cancer survivors without breasts.

We must shame it off the air, or we are being stone cold heartless to those breastless victims...sob.

Female Equality Uber Alles. And no size comments are allowed from the men either.; 5/30/15, 11:43 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: An engraved invitation from Althouse!
Breastfeeding-Laslo
Walker-garage
Race-Crack (back in the glory days); 5/30/15, 11:47 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I just hope the mother makes the child suck it all down because there are children starving in China.; 5/30/15, 11:58 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Breast feeding is good - but this woman is wierd.; 5/30/15, 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I wonder if any of her friends at school try and trade lunches with her.; 5/30/15, 12:12 PM
Birches said...: For some children, especially those who get teeth late, I can understand why some would not wean until almost two. I'm not in that camp, but I can see it. From almost two to three, nursing becomes like a security blanket or a pacifier. The kid isn't getting any real sustenance, but nursing becomes like a little kiss or a cuddle time. Not my bag either, but I can see it. After that, I think it really does become a mommy power play. My friend had an 8 yr old kid in her neighborhood that had to leave their playdate because he had to go home to nurse. At least he wasn't featured in a reality show.; 5/30/15, 12:14 PM
David Begley said...: Reality shows are modern day circus freak shows. Car wrecks on the side of the road.; 5/30/15, 12:19 PM
n.n said...: Another orientation. Another behavior. Does it merit normalization; can it be tolerated; or should it be rejected?; 5/30/15, 12:27 PM
Scott said...: Fall 2019: "New reality show! Deep in the Brazilian jungles, contestants compete for survival among tribal savages who bite the heads off of monkeys! Only on Discovery!"; 5/30/15, 12:34 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: My friend had an 8 yr old kid in her neighborhood that had to leave their playdate because he had to go home to nurse.

I thought I had heard everything as far as extended nursing was concerned. I was wrong!; 5/30/15, 12:42 PM
CatherineM said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/30/15, 1:08 PM
rhhardin said...: Maybe she's saving on contraceptives.; 5/30/15, 1:24 PM
RichardJohnson said...: Many years ago I read a biography of the eccentric Texas oilman, HL Hunt. The claim was made that HL Hunt breastfed until he was 8 years old. The breastfeeding stopped when his father discovered it.; 5/30/15, 1:36 PM
Sydney said...: Once a child is old enough to drink from a cup and to feed himself, the breastfeeding becomes a sex substitute for mom.; 5/30/15, 1:51 PM
Sydney said...: Re: New blogger verification. Is alcohol considered food?; 5/30/15, 1:52 PM
Etienne said...: Maybe she's saving on contraceptives.

I suspect she hasn't copulated in years, since the old man ran away. There's never a father in these tragic news stories.; 5/30/15, 2:03 PM
Anonymous said...: There once was a lad from Moline,
Who was weaned at the age of nineteen.
Said he, "I'll admit,
There's no milk in the tit,
But think of the fun that it's been!"

Peter; 5/30/15, 2:21 PM
Anonymous said...: In a few years, you will see her feeding her 10 years old little bird. In a couple more years, a 16 years old big bird. Oh, mine, gross me out!; 5/30/15, 2:37 PM
Beldar said...: Just call her Aunt Lysa Arryn.; 5/30/15, 2:38 PM
Quaestor said...: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, of the mystery of human life..."

The quotation Meade cited and annotated parenthetically is from Justice Anthony Kennedy's written opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case about abortion. Abortion involves a human being who is deprived of liberty by way of being lawfully slaughtered, which implies that at some stages of life our liberties -- our right to define "the mystery of human life" -- do not exist. The abortion issue has been settled in favor of the liberty of some human beings at the expense of others, ergo liberty is not absolute. Thus the question remains, does a six years have the liberty (this is not the same as the competence) to decide whether breastfeeding is psychologically healthy? And if so, why are other liberties lawfully denied her?; 5/30/15, 2:39 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: OK, I knew a woman who breast-fed her three-year-old, Colin. (He had a habit of reaching for her and exclaiming "Dit!" which was Colin-speak for "tit," of course.) But six is extreme, and eight way beyond.; 5/30/15, 2:45 PM
Birches said...: OK, I knew a woman who breast-fed her three-year-old, Colin. (He had a habit of reaching for her and exclaiming "Dit!" which was Colin-speak for "tit," of course.) But six is extreme, and eight way beyond.

That's just weird to me. I don't like the made up names moms have for their breasts and nursing: boob boob, num nums, whatever. It can be creepy. The freakin' kid is old enough to talk, let him use the proper name. My other kids (in reference to my 11 month old nursing) call it mama's milk, as opposed to cow's milk or just milk. But then again, I guess I don't like cute names for anything. We use penis and vulva (yep, that's right Ann) instead of whatever made up names people have these days for anatomy.; 5/30/15, 3:11 PM
Mountain Maven said...: There are a million nuts out there, now they get TV shows.

Who watches the discovery channel, or for that matter much of anything on TV except sports? The rest is on Amazon or Netflix and most of that is crap too.; 5/30/15, 3:47 PM
lemondog said...: I imagine that's pronounced "a mynah.

Aminah bint Wahb (/ˈæmənə, ˈɑːmiːˌnɑː/; Arabic: آمنة بنت وهب‎ ʼĀminah bint Wahb; died 577 AD) was the mother of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.; 5/30/15, 4:38 PM
jr565 said...: There's lactation porn. Some guys get off on it. But hey, if its good for you and tasted like candy canes, I might indulge myself.; 5/30/15, 4:42 PM
jr565 said...: There are two shows recently that show over age kids still suckling at their moms teat despite being well past the age when its normal. In both cases both the moms and the kids were these weird cases of neuroses.
The two shows were Game of Thrones and The Slap. In the slap, the kid getting slapped was the kid who breast fed till he was 6 or whatever. And the mother, while ostensibly the victim is also a crazy whack job.; 5/30/15, 4:47 PM
Quaestor said...: There are two shows recently that show over age kids still suckling at their moms teat despite being well past the age when its normal.

And there's the acclaimed film The last Emperor. According to that screenplay Pu Yi has a wet-nurse who suckles him well into his early adolescence. The experience seems to be only deleterious of healthy development.; 5/30/15, 6:59 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: When a woman's breasts are lactating it tells the man his job is done and he needs to plow new furrows.

I am Laslo.; 5/30/15, 7:17 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "When a woman's breasts are lactating it tells the man his job is done and he needs to plow new furrows."

When the child has released her breasts the Man may return; he may not.

By breast-feeding for an extended time a woman is telling her Man that she Doesn't want his Return.

And promising the Kid a Future in which to ever be disappointed.

I am Laslo.; 5/30/15, 7:30 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Thank you for the validation.; 5/30/15, 8:10 PM
ALP said...: Time to trot out my favorite story from my sister's "breastfeed until 5 or so" practice. Myself, my sister, and still-breastfeeding niece (5 at the time) are out running errands. Niece begins to scream for "boooobie" in the line at the drug store. Sister says: "No, you have to wait". "Noooo...I WANT BOOOBIE BOOBIE BOOBIE" she screams at the top of her lungs while she's writhing on the floor, attracting the attention of every person in the store.

I wander away as I say to the person nearest me: "I don't know these people, I just ended up in line behind them".; 5/30/15, 9:08 PM
Carnifex said...: Can you say Munchausen? I knew you could.; 5/30/15, 11:04 PM
Carnifex said...: Speaking of reality tv...my sister watches those "little people" shows. The ones about midgets. Absolutely loves them for some reason. Her entire vacation was a hit when she and her family stopped at a hotel and the was the family from one of these shows. She got their autographs, took pictures with 'em, the whole nine yards.

I love my sister, but I would consider that borderline crazy behavior.

PS> The family my sister harassed, (they were on vacation too) were nice as could be. Prolly didn't want to scare the crazy giant woman.; 5/30/15, 11:14 PM
Kelly said...: ALP, that's hilarious. I just can't imagine breastfeeding a five year old. I think a good rule is if a kid can use a knife and a fork they should probably not be breastfeeding.; 5/31/15, 10:03 AM
Largo said...: Where, oh where, is Titus?; 6/1/15, 4:55 AM