{"id":56484,"date":"2018-11-16T02:24:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T02:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=56484"},"modified":"2018-11-16T02:24:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T02:24:40","slug":"mom-breastfed-9-year-old-responds-critics-went-public-raise-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=56484","title":{"rendered":"Mom who breastfed 9-year-old responds to critics: &#8216;I went public to raise awareness&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">A British mom who has attracted global intrigue and ire after going public with the fact that she&nbsp;breastfed her daughter until age 9&nbsp;has responded to those who have criticized her media exposure (not to mention her parenting methods).<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Sharon Spink, of North Yorkshire, England, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the news companies came to her first, and that she agreed to keep giving interviews \u201cpurely to raise awareness.\u201d This week, the 50-year-old mom\u2019s story \u2014 of how she had trouble when it came to breastfeeding her three older children, but found her groove with her youngest, Charlotte, who continued to nurse until self-weaning just recently \u2014 ran in outlets from&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Daily Mail&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Sun<\/em>&nbsp;in the U.K. to the&nbsp;<em>New York Post<\/em>&nbsp;and Yahoo Lifestyle. She also appeared on&nbsp;<em>This Morning<\/em>&nbsp;in the U.K. this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\"><div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post1\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\"><div class=\"box shadow  \"><div class=\"box-inner-block\"><i class=\"fa tie-shortcode-boxicon\"><\/i>\n\t\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FThisMorning%2Fvideos%2F805861316426132%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=476\" width=\"476\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">The atypically long stretch of breastfeeding drew, predictably, a slew of critics on Facebook and elsewhere, with many going so far as to call Spink \u201cnuts,\u201d \u201cperverted,\u201d \u201cselfish\u201d or a \u201cpedophile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">But others focused on the publicity aspect, calling it \u201can attempt to gain attention,\u201d and noting, \u201cif she wants to do this then fine, keep it private, but to splash it all over Facebook then shame on her.\u201d Another asked, \u201cWhy expose the child in this? Literally asking for her to be bullied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Spink tells Yahoo Lifestyle, \u201cMercury Press&nbsp;approached me. \u2026 I think it was via my Facebook profile.\u201d The mom\u2019s first round of coverage, about nursing her then 5-year-old, came in 2014, she recalls, noting that the initial media inquiry came through the&nbsp;Association of Breastfeeding Mothers&nbsp;in the U.K. (similar to&nbsp;La Leche League), which she is a part of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">\u201cI went public now and then purely to raise awareness for other moms, and to help them realize they\u2019re not alone, and that feeding older children is normal for us as a species,\u201d says Spink, who has been \u201chappily married\u201d to her \u201cvery supportive\u201d husband for 14 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">While extended breastfeeding, a tenet of attachment parenting, is often controversial, it typically refers to children who nurse until ages 3 or 4 \u2014 something that\u2019s considered long enough in this country, where fewer than 36 percent of babies are still being breastfed at just a year old. So the thought of a 9-year-old breastfeeding is particularly hard for many to fathom. (Research, though, has found&nbsp;the biological age of human weaning to be anywhere between 2.5 and 7 years old, with the average being 4.3 years.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">Regarding the endless stream of cruel comments directed at Spink, she says, \u201cI mostly ignore them. I know they\u2019re generally talking from a place of either not understanding how breastfeeding works, or from a judgmental attitude that breasts are sexual objects, which they\u2019re not. We have breasts in order to breastfeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\"><div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post2\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><em>Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bagfactory.com.hk\/216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Sun Winning Ind Co<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: Manufacture of Canvas Bag, Recycle Bad in China<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theunitravel.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TheUniTravel.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span> : Find the latest\u00a0<em>travel<\/em>\u00a0and tourism\u00a0<em>news<\/em>\u00a0from around the world. Stay informed with\u00a0<em>travel news<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>updates<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">There have been supportive comments, too, which she says have been \u201cphenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">\u201cThe fact that a lot of that support has been from other breastfeeding moms, telling me I\u2019ve inspired them to continue their breastfeeding journeys, is amazing,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt makes me feel that I\u2019ve made a difference, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">Her daughter Charlotte, she says, is aware of the media coverage and \u201chappy for it to go out,\u201d and explains she wouldn\u2019t have gone forward if her daughter felt differently. Charlotte is also aware that most children do not breastfeed nearly this long. \u201cWe have talked about it, but it doesn\u2019t bother her,\u201d Spink says. The mom also says that \u201cthere haven\u2019t been any incidents of her being bullied. \u2026 It\u2019s more of an excitement about her being in the media, like, \u2018Ooh, I saw you on the TV\u2019 type comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm\">Finally, Spink says she doesn\u2019t mind the intense fascination with her breastfeeding practices. \u201cI actually think it\u2019s a great thing, because it\u2019s getting that message out there as far as it can, to let as many moms as possible know they\u2019re not alone,\u201d she says. \u201cMoms should have a choice of how to feed their child without judgment; it should be an informed, fact-based choice, rather than making a choice because of what society thinks or \u2014 even worse \u2014 tells them what they should be thinking. Let moms trust their and their child\u2019s instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A British mom who has attracted global intrigue and ire after going public with the fact that she&nbsp;breastfed her daughter until age 9&nbsp;has responded to those who have criticized her media exposure (not to mention her parenting methods). Sharon Spink, of North Yorkshire, England, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the news companies came to her first, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mom who breastfed 9-year-old responds to critics: &#039;I went public to raise awareness&#039; - TheFastFashion.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=56484\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mom who breastfed 9-year-old responds to critics: &#039;I went public to raise awareness&#039; - TheFastFashion.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A British mom who has attracted global intrigue and ire after going public with the fact that she&nbsp;breastfed her daughter until age 9&nbsp;has responded to those who have criticized her media exposure (not to mention her parenting methods). 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