Kay Smith, 43, has breastfed her youngest daughter, Bleubelle, for four years and four months – and says she’s the ‘healthiest child’ she’s ever known
Kay Smith (Image: Kay Smith/SWNS)
A mother said that she continues to breastfeed her four-year-old daughter – while acknowledging she’d consider it “weird” if she witnessed another parent doing likewise. Kay Smith, 43, nursed her three eldest children for between one and two years, but chose to extend breastfeeding with her youngest, as she’s her final baby and she’s keen to preserve that aspect of motherhood.
The mum-of-four insists her toddler, Bleubelle, is the “healthiest child” she’s ever encountered and attributes this to the extended nursing. She intends to cease breastfeeding once her daughter starts school, noting that the youngster currently has no clue that her nursery pals aren’t breastfed as well.
Kay, who works as a personal trainer, explained: “I breastfed all of my children, but stopped after one or two years with the older ones. I decided to breastfeed my youngest for longer because she’s my last child and I see her as such a baby.
“I just didn’t want to let go of the feeling of having a baby. I do feel a bit weird because if someone else told me they still breastfed their four-year-old, I’d think that was too old, but to me, she’s just so little still.
“My husband is supportive, but thinks it’s embarrassing if I do it in public, and my other kids see her as a baby too, so they don’t think it’s strange. Bleubelle is by far the healthiest child I’ve ever known and I think that’s down to the breastfeeding.
“If the Facebook mums send a message saying there’s a cold going around, she never gets it. If she does get anything, it’s always gone after 24 hours.
“I don’t really discuss it with friends or family, because my parents are old-fashioned and frown on it, I think it’s a generational thing. I only feed her in the morning and at night, but I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if she asked for it while we’re in public.”
Kay, who resides in Portsmouth, Hampshire, alongside her husband – a recruiter who backs her breastfeeding choices – says she plans to stop in September 2026, when her daughter Bleubelle begins reception.
Kat, who initially shared her experience with Talk To The Press, revealed: “I’ve told myself I’ll stop when she’s at school, because it would feel weird to continue then. Sometimes I do just think though ‘why do I even care? Why do I need an age to stop at?’.
“She has no idea it’s not the norm, when I breastfeed her before bed, she calls it booby and book, and she thinks all of her friends have the same ritual. I thought she might have realised as she got older, but she doesn’t have a clue.”
Kay has nursed all of her children – now aged 16, 14, 11 and four – opting to breastfeed her eldest two for a year and her third for two years. Yet she’s taken a different tack with Bleubelle and continues breastfeeding her at four years and four months old.
She mentioned that she’s observed Bleubelle has developed a slight lisp, which she suspects might be linked to breastfeeding. Kay now nurses her daughter just twice daily – once upon waking and once at bedtime – as she spends her days at nursery. She said she wouldn’t “bat an eyelid” if her daughter requested to breastfeed in public.
“I’d happily do it in public, but she never asks for it,” she explained. “I think if I saw another woman doing it in public, I wouldn’t think negatively of it, but it would stick in my head that the kid was a bit old.”
Kay intends to cease breastfeeding when her daughter starts school this September, as she reckons it would be “weird” to carry on beyond that point.
Though she confessed: “She does just feel like such a baby to me though and I’ve given myself cut-offs throughout her life, but I’ve never stuck to them before.”
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