51 YEAR OLD MOTHER PLANS ON BREAST FEEDING HER 5 YR OLD UNTIL SHE'S 10

MAHA AL MUSA

It’s no wonder mom-of-three Maha Al Musa has such toned arm muscles.
The 51-year-old does an unusual form of weightlifting several times a day – she has been nursing her five-year-old from birth and plans to carry on until she’s ten.
“(My daughter) Aminah took to breastfeeding easily and the moment I felt that bond, I was instantly hooked,” Al Musa told the magazine New. “I believe it will help boost her immune system. To this day, she is rarely ill and her temperament is calmer and more relaxed than other children.”

She is following in the footsteps of Jamie Lynne Grumet, the Los Angeles woman who controversially posed for the cover of Time magazine in May 2012 with her four-year-old son standing on a chair and suckling from her breast.

The practice of extended breastfeeding – where a child is only weaned off human milk when they say they are ready to stop – is gaining in popularity with an increasing number of moms citing benefits to kids’ health and well-being.

Despite the odd raised eyebrow when nursing an obviously much older child in public, they claim it helps with the bonding process.

Al Musa, a belly dancer from New South Wales, Australia, who breast-fed Aminah’s brothers, Kailash, 16, and Tariq, 13, until they were two, says she doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

Last year Grumet, 26, who was nursed by her own mother for six years, defended her decision to continue breastfeeding her four-year-old, explaining that it’s “more of a cradling, nurturing [situation] at home”.