Bekah Martinez Says There's 'Nothing Weird About Feeding and Soothing My Toddler via Breast'
Bekah Martinez is telling critics to mind their own business when it comes to breastfeeding her two kids.
On Tuesday, the Bachelor alum, 25, shared a gallery of photos taken by Elizabeth Miranda on Instagram, showcasing her motherly glow as she cradles her little ones, son Franklin James, 3 months, and daughter Ruth Ray De La Luz, whom she welcomed in Feb. 2019. She shares her children with boyfriend Grayston Leonard.
In the photos, Ruth is seen latched to her mom's breast, with Martinez defending her decision to continue breastfeeding her toddler in the post's caption.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is NOTHING weird about feeding and soothing my toddler via breast. There is NOTHING wrong with sharing it via social media," she wrote. "So many moms stop breastfeeding earlier than they want because of stupid pricks like the people online who comment 'isn't she a little too old?', 'we get it, you breastfeed' or even 'that's disgusting 🤢.' "
"You wanna talk facts? Let's talk facts," said the reality star, who then went on to list parenting experts' information about breastfeeding young kids, including a report from the World Health Organization that states: "Breastfeeding continues to make an important nutritional contribution well beyond the first year of life as a significant energy source and by providing key nutrients to the growing infant."
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"So sorry," Martinez added. "Not accepting any uneducated, ignorant or self-righteous puritanical bulls— today. Bye. Gotta go nurse my 20 month-old."
In July, the mom of two shared a snapshot on Instagram that showed her breastfeeding both of her children simultaneously. She took the opportunity at the time to fire back at commenters who called her parenting practices "disgusting."
After joking that the comment "makes me want to nurse [Ruth] till like age 7," she said "it's REALLY hard to get a child to involuntarily breastfeed so it's ridiculous when people claim someone's forcing their older child to feed."
"If a child is voluntarily nursing … there is NOTHING psychologically damaging about nursing through and even past the toddler years," Martinez added. "We've got it soooo backwards now as a society. Children don't have any concept of breastfeeding being sexual."
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Martinez backed up her claims with information from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which reads: "When natural weaning is practiced, complete weaning usually takes place between 2 and 4 years of age. In western cultures, there remains a relative intolerance to this type of weaning and many mothers who breastfeed older infants and children become 'closet nursers.' "
As opposed to natural weaning, the NCBI's definition of planned weaning is "when the mother decides to wean without receiving cues from the infant that he is ready to stop breastfeeding. Some reasons commonly given for planned weaning include the following: not enough milk or concerns about the baby's growth, painful feedings or mastitis, returning to work, a new pregnancy, wanting the partner or another care-giver to be able to administer feedings, or the baby's teeth beginning to erupt."
"Basically the NATURAL and NORMAL age of weaning is between 2 and 4," Martinez added at the time. "I'm not saying that to shame people who initiate weaning earlier (I don't think think there's anything wrong with it and I would do it myself if I ever felt overwhelmed with bf'ing)."
"BUT it's absurd when people freak out over a 3-year-old or an 18-month-old still nursing!!! It's NORMALLLLL," Martinez concluded.
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