How old is too old to breastfeed?

Remember the controversial “Are You Mom Enough” Time magazine cover of Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her 4-year-old son? Well, the ensuing debate about breastfeeding beyond infancy is the force behind a new reality show from the makers of Bridezilla and Dance Moms.

"That [Time magazine] cover proves what I've been saying for the last year -- America has become a country of extremes," Jeff Collins, president of Collins Avenue Productions (the company developing the show) told Yahoo! Shine.

"I think it's so fascinating that some Americans find the image of woman breastfeeding to be provocative, shocking, even sexual when, in fact, it's the most natural thing in the world," Collins said.

Extreme Parenting will follow mothers who breastfeed past the one-year mark along with parents who are raising kids in what Collins says are “un-traditional ways these days.”

The World Health Organization and the Australian Breastfeeding Association , encourage mothers to breastfeed until at least the age of two and neither organisation set a time limit or guideline on when mothers should wean their children off the breast completely.

Celebrity fans of Attachment Parenting, Alanis Morisette and Mayim Bialik have spoken out in defence of long-term breastfeeding with Morisette saying she will feed son, Ever, until he wants to - even if that means when he is five.

Lindsay Cross, a writer at Mommyish has no problem with mothers breastfeeding older kids, but doesn’t think a reality show is going to do anything positive for the practice.

“I cannot imagine any way that this production company will present this issue without being offensive and distasteful for mothers everywhere,” Cross says.

"We need to work on seeing breastfeeding as normal. It shouldn’t be television fodder. That’s the worst thing that could happen. We need breastfeeding to be boring. We need it to be so common-place and accepted that no one would think of making a television show out of it. Breastfeeding should be like walking your dog or mowing the lawn.”

What do you think about long-term breastfeeding? If you breastfed, how old were your kids when you stopped breastfeeding? Click to comment