Breastfeeding has been a hot-button topic for… well, forever, and everyone seems to have an opinion about what other people do with their own bodies and babies — or, as the case may be with extended breastfeeding, toddlers and older kids. Many celebrity breastfeeding moms have revealed their breastfeeding journeys, and Austin is one of them, sharing in a new interview with Us Weekly that she continues to bond with her daughter Chanel via breastfeeding.
“Chanel still likes my boobs, she’s 5 years old,” the model said while sharing her parenting dos and don’ts. “It’s a big bonding moment for your mother and your child.”
To critics who say that her daughter is not getting any nutrition from breastfeeding at this stage, Austin says that while Chanel does “eat steak and hamburgers,” the 5-year-old also “likes a little snack every now and then. Why take that away from her?”
The Ice Loves Coco star, who shares Chanel with her husband, rapper and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor Ice-T, went through some of their unconventional parenting choices, stating: “We’re not your traditional married couple, we live on a completely different planet.”
But back to Chanel, who is her dad’s mini-me, Austin continues, “If Chanel doesn’t want it, all right, that’s where you stop it. But I’m not just going to say ‘no. boob’… At night, she cuddles with the boob and… she loves on it and it’s not like she’s getting a meal from it, she’s getting her little snack and it’s kind of soothing her to sleep.”
About two minutes into the video clip, little Chanel pops in the frame and says, “You know what? The boob makes me sleep.”
Breastfeeding is a personal choice — and if you’re doing it, so is deciding when to stop. It’s up to the mom and child to make — not the general public. As Austin also points out during this interview, different cultures have been known to extend breastfeeding way past the generally reported age of 2 or 3. While we can each have our own preferences and opinions about what’s the best, it’s great that different moms are speaking out about their personal breastfeeding practices.
Celebrate the beauty of different breastfeeding journeys through these photographs.
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