Breast-feeding doesn’t just benefit baby. British blogger Sophie Mei Lan — who nurses her daughters ages 5 and 2 — appeared on U.K.’s This Morning and explained it helps manage her depression.
“Sometime I can zone out and be in my own little episode,” the 29-year-old revealed during her segment on Thursday, November 2. “But when I’m feeding my babies it anchors me and I focus on them.”
The mother of Jasmine, 5, and Ariana, 2, added that she plans to breast-feed her girls until they are 7— though her husband Chris Hale isn’t totally on board.
“It’s caused a bit of friction in my relationship. Chris would like like me to stop because it’s so tiring,” Mei Lan told The Sun on Thursday. “We do argue about it, but we know breast milk is one of the healthiest things we can give our children.”
Though the blogger admitted people stare when she breast-feeds Jasmine in public and it does feel “a bit awkward,” she knows what is best for her child.
“From the start of my breast-feeding people would ask when I’d stop,” she explained on This Morning. “As mammals we feed from five — seven years old until they get their molars and can’t latch on. I think it’s weirder we drink cows breast milk instead of our own.”
As for Jasmine, she isn’t ready to wean quite yet. “Jasmine started school last year and I told her not many kids in her class would be feeding,” said Meil Lan, “but she’s not bothered.”
After the segment aired, Twitter exploded with cruel comments. “I actually can’t deal with the thought of breastfeeding a FIVE YEAR OLD . . . wtf?!!! They’re at school?” wrote one person. Another called the extended breast-feeding “inappropriate and unnecessary.”
Others rushed to Mei Lan’s defense: “I’m breastfeeding my 16 month old son & plan on doing so until he wants to stop. I think the woman on #ThisMorning is amazing!” tweeted one woman.
Hale has a healthy perspective on the subject. “My take on it, I feel sorry for mothers,” he said on This Morning. “They are always judged. It’s almost a battle you can’t win. You do what is right for your family. It doesn’t really matter what everyone else thinks.”
