Coco Austin, wife of Ice-T, has stood by her choice to breastfeed her daughter until the age of six.
The 46-year-old model discussed her parenting choices on Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, elaborating on her reasons for some of the decisions she made.
After giving birth to her daughter Chanel in 2016, Coco continued to breastfeed longer than many other mothers might choose to do so.
While she recognized that her choice differed from the norm, Coco remained firm in her belief about the importance of breastfeeding in her child’s early years.
Every parent has their own style and methods when it comes to raising their children.
Coco explained that as Chanel grew older, breastfeeding was less about nutrition and more about maintaining a close bond.
“It wasn’t like I was feeding her because she needed a meal,” she said. “She was able to eat by a year, you know, full, like, solids. It was more of a bonding experience and more of like, ‘Okay, I’ll give you the milk.'”
She highlighted that she allowed her daughter to decide when to end breastfeeding.
“It was more like she wanted to be around me,” said Coco. “So I was like, I’m gonna let her stop when she wants to stop.”
Despite this, Coco assured that there was a limit to how long the breastfeeding would continue.
Coco stated: “She’s not gonna be 16 on my boob. She’s gonna eventually figure out, ‘Okay, this is kinda strange or weird and stuff’. And that happened around 6, … which was still [an] extremely long amount of time apparently.”
She continued: “But in Europe, they’re doing till 7. Like, it’s nothing to them. I mean, Americans think that’s weird.”
Chanel primarily breastfed before bedtime as it provided a comforting presence for her.
“It was more of like a comfort thing with her, but I got so many people that loved it,” Coco said. “Like, they were on my side.”
She remarked: “I was like, ‘Oh, this is so nice’ because I was the only one speaking about it. And I’m like, why is this so hard? Like, people have been doing this for thousands of years.”