First off, I breastfed all three of my children. My mother did the same with the three of us, even in a time range where the cries to stamp out breastfeeding were rampant. Breastfeeding an infant is entirely natural, and there are benefits for the infant inasmuch as it helps transfer the Mom's immunity to the infant. (This is why many doctors recommend breastfeeding for at least six-weeks, even to women who would rather not.) But, these infants grow teeth, quite often by the time they're eight months old. The normal time to wean them off of the breast is between seven and nine months. (By the way, it's also advised to do the same with bottle fed babies. If you wait until they've reached a year old, those babies tend to develop a fetish about said bottle and you'll pay the devil to break them from it.) Breastfeeding a toddler (from ages 12 months to age 4) is just weird. The benefits are no longer there, first off. And the only one who receives gratification is the Mom, who can't or won't allow her child to grow up. Mothers, ordinarily, have the instinct to chew up table food for their Toddlers. But even a baby under the age of one year can gum a food adequately to get their nourishment. If you've ever breastfed a baby and been bit, you'll understand why not. Yes, I made the mistake of breast-feeding my youngest until he was twelve months old. Then one day he full on bit me. I saw stars it hurt so bad. And the little bugger laughed. That was THE last time I gave him the breast. I realized it was because I knew he was my very last baby that I mistakenly nursed him that long. :open_mouth: (Yes, I went "Cold-Turkey" which it's said we shouldn't do.) In my defense I was in the process of getting him to take milk from a cup at lunch, which he did just fine. It was only after I refused him the breast that he started to refuse the cup. Little bugger.
To bring prolonged breastfeeding into the game would be at best, awkward, and at worse a bad idea. It goes entirely against convention. There is no need to do so in this day and age. It's simply a way for the mother to exert control over said child. It's unhealthy.
