A Dublin TV presenter revealed how she still breastfeeds her five-year-old daughter despite society's views on the subject.
39-year-old Ciara Whelan blames the stigma attached to it on the media's portrayal of breastfeeding and the lack of awareness.
The TV3 presenter told Dublin Live: “You’re not sitting down feeding a five-year-old like a new born.
"I feed my five-year-old Bo and our 10-month-old Blaise, my three-year-old Edie is pretty much weaned.”
Ciara said it’s still considered odd to feed an older child in public adding: “But I wouldn’t even dream of feeding my toddler in Costa coffee shop.”
The brave mom admitted she has questioned her journey but the comfort breastfeeding gives her kids is unrivalled.
She said: “It just made me realise that what I have done works, I do question myself thinking I’m feeding a five year old and think is it weird?
“But the only problem with nursing a five year old is society’s view on it.
“You don’t put your new born to bed one night and they wake up as a five year old, so as they grow the weaning process is so gradual.”
The brunette beauty said we don’t question why animals feed their toddlers and she wants to normalise breastfeeding.
She explained: “There’s nothing negative about it, in this country we have so many problems, everyone suffering with their mental health.
“We’ll bring our toddlers to Dublin Zoo and see the gorillas feeding their toddlers and nobody bats an eyelid.
The mom-of-three won celebrity mom of the year at the Friends of Breastfeeding annual awards ceremony over the weekend at the Clontarf Castle in Dublin for raising much needed breastfeeding awareness.
She said: “The issue is nobody sees anyone doing it, I’ve never seen a five year old feed.
“I do think people are doing their research and realise how far we’ve gone in the wrong way.
“The portrayal of breastfeeding moms in the media is awful, the more normal it gets the better.
“In our house it’s normal.
"It’s the best parenting tool we have, it’s our superpower, breastfeeding is like a tranquilliser gun except it’s your boobs doing the work for you.”
The stunner who presented a travel series on TV3 with her partner Jon Slattery for over a decade has just launched an online series featuring their three girls and is proud that she breastfed on the show.
She added: “We now have an online series, Ciara and John’s Road trip reality but it also ran on TV3.
“People noticed that I breastfed my baby on the trip, every little bit of normal will help and it will stop the misinformation.”
