Still breastfeeding, still none of your business.

I've breastfed both of my children, and am very passionate about the fabulous benefits breastfeeding provides for both mum and baby. The World Health Organisation guidelines recommend breastfeeding until 2, and the worldwide average age a child weans from the breast is 4.

Moobles breastfed until she was 19 months and I was 6 months pregnant with Velcro Boy. Lots of people were shocked that I was breastfeeding while pregnant, convinced that I was causing harm to my unborn baby or that it was just plain wrong, and weren't afraid to tell me so! Eventually the time came when Moobles and I were both ready to stop and gradually she asked less and less and I stopped offering, until one day she didn't feed at all.

Velcro Boy is 16 months old and still breast-feeding lots. He feeds when he's hungry, when he's tired, when he's upset, when we've been apart for a little while and just when he fancies it generally. We feed at home, and while we're out and about, although lately VB has taken to impersonating the Cirque Du Soleil whilst feeding, so discretion is a bit tricky at the moment. Breastfeeding is so much more than nutrition, it's a fabulous bonding tool and a way of calming and reassuring him when he needs it. I'm aiming to breastfeed him for as long as it works for both him and me, hopefully beyond 2 years.

I'm not too worried about being discreet, I think it's a good thing to feed in public, to show people that it's normal and that it's perfectly possible to breastfeed and carry on with life. When VB was small, I was feeding him in a shop, sitting on the pouffes they provide for trying on shoes when I finished a mum with a tiny baby asked me she was allowed to feed in public, as she'd just seen me do it. She also told me that she hadn't been leaving the house for fear that she'd need to feed her baby in public and was considering switching to formula so she could get out more. I quickly put her straight, and sent her to the nearest Starbucks, with instructions to buy coffee and cake and find a comfy chair.

I'm not sure why people think it's okay to question my parenting decisions, or comment on them at all really. But next time someone asks if VB is *still* being breastfed, I'm gonna say "Yup, we're still breastfeeding, and it's still none of your business!"