My bleeding eyes.. and Girlpants bleeding ears!

We've just spent the last hour watching a programme that others have been talking about for the past couple of days. First aired on the fourth channel of ye olde box, Extraordinary Breastfeeding was a factual and sympathetic examination into four different women who were breastfeeding their children.

There is Veronika who is still breastfeeding her 7ry old, while her eldest has asked if she can be breastfed from "milky-yoo" and "milky-yuu" as a present for her tenth birthday. When her younger child was born, her then 65yr old mother helped with the breastfeeding duties until Veronika was used to tandem feeding, whilst hubby felt left out and joined in to be more involved. There is Dolores and her husband who are about to adopt a little girl from China, whom she then tries to breastfeed whilst nursing her 5yr old son. There was also Kirsty works for an breastfeeding organisation - she taught her 2yr daughter to call her breasts "bitty" and is an ardent supporter of a womans right to nurse in public by organising protests for a womens right to breastfeed in public by organising a "nurse in" at the local shopping centre after feeding her child at the checkout counter in Tesco's. And finally, there's 38yr old Sophie, who was tandem-feeding her two-year-old twins on demand whilst her marriage is effectively on hold, her husband misses spending time with her and with her two older children, feel to a certain extent left out of her life.

As a 30yr old married women with no children, I have no problem with women breastfeeding in public. Sisters and friends have nursed their children in front of me with no embarrassment, and no-one in my family feels discomfort from seeing mothers nurse their children. But I did feel discomfort watching as a woman tried to nurse a child that wasn't born from her womb who clearly wasn't interested in mummy milk, despite repeated efforts to try and make her nurse. Girlpants clearly winced when the grandmother admitted breastfeeding her grandchildren and admittedly, we were both disturbed by seeing a 7yr old stretch out on the sofa to be breastfeed, only to then place two apples down her shirt, look at herself in the mirror and announce that she was going to breastfeed herself when her own breasts had grown. And I did have a problem watching a woman nurse her child whilst wheeling a trolley around Tesco's, whilst checking off her shopping list in the fresh meat aisle.

Observers also gave their opinions at the nurse-in - one man said breastfeeding encourages "paedo-fiddlers", he's mistaken. Paedo-fiddlers don't exist and paedophiles are not at all interested in boobs. I can understand a womens wish to nurse their child when and where they can, as breast milk is a good source or nutrients, enzymes and to a point, antibodies against diseases. But as House said, there is a point to when "yummy mummy milk" can only do so much, which is why a child needs more supplements and inoculations. WHO recommends breastfeeding up and beyond 2yrs of age, but they are concerned with the bigger world picture where most countries can not get the supplements and nutrients to their child, and in some cases, can't even get enough food. The West is different with it's wealth - maybe this is why the West views breastfeeding the way it does. And whilst I don't think that a woman should be forced to stop feeding their child, but there has to be a point when the child grows up.

And 7 took the biscuit.

Now please excuse me whilst I go hug my boobs.