Yahoo News 'This Morning' viewers shocked by woman who still breastfeeds her nine-year-old child
This Morning viewers were left shocked on Tuesday (November 13) after a woman claimed she still breastfeeds her nine-year-old-daughter.
Sharon Spink, a mother-of-four from North Yorkshire, said her daughter Charlotte, is “the most independent little girl” she knows.
Spink insisted that all the other mums she knows are fine with it, but viewers and fellow guest Rachel Halliwell were not impressed.
“I breastfed all of my daughters until they were one, and my youngest [until] her second birthday,” said Halliwell.
“I had to stop and think, ‘Why am I still feeding her?’ Because she can eat with a knife and fork, she can drink with a cup, so I had to think, ‘She’s my youngest, maybe I’m trying to keep her a baby and hold on to that. So it felt right at that point to stop,” she explained.
But Spink said that it has been her daughter’s ‘choice’ to keep breastfeeding and that her breast milk was beneficial for her daughter.
Spink said: “There’s nothing in breastmilk that changes – it actually just improves and gears itself to that child.
“I don’t refuse but I don’t offer, it’s all her choice. She will just come up to me, she would just come and sit and have a cuddle on my knee…
“If she comes and asks me tomorrow then that’s fine, but nature tends to take over once they get their full set of adult teeth, their jaw shape changes, so Mother Nature is saying, ‘They don’t need to breastfeed anymore.'”
However, some viewers were left confused and some appalled by Spink’s story, with several accusing her of having attachment issues.
Breastfeeding At nine is absolutely ridiculous.. woman obviously has her own attachment issues #ThisMorning
— Em❣️ (@__ammex) November 13, 2018
Breastfeeding a NINE year old is not comforting… it’s disgusting and that poor kid will now be buillied, if she’s not already #thismorning
— Matt (@MattBrizi) November 13, 2018
#ThisMorning sensationalising one woman’s unconventional #breastfeeding journey is not helping to promote #breastfeeding in the UK when rates are at an all time low.
— Carla (@CJ_Carla) November 13, 2018
One viewer wrote: “I just see this as abuse! Breastfeeding your girl at 9 years of age! Do you not realise that not only is this absolutely wrong, you’re also potentially going to be the cause of her health; mentally & emotionally!”
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