An Aussie mom has hit back at trolls who criticized her for breastfeeding her children long after they progressed to solid foods.
Mother-of-three Temeaka Tate told Daily Mail Australia that she has been breastfeeding continuously for nine years - and that she has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
She claimed that she would continue to breastfeed her two-and-a-half-year-old son for as long as he wanted - even if that was until he turned nine.
Tate first faced backlash for her parenting when she shared photos of herself nursing her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter on Facebook.
"They all got reported as child harm," she recalled.
The 34-year-old went on to hit back at suggestions she had forced her children to continue breastfeeding: "No one was forced. I ask people if they've ever tried to make a toddler do what they don't want to do. I can't force a child to feed."
Tate's breastfeeding journey began when she had to pump milk for her eldest son, who was soy and dairy intolerant. Just over a year later, her daughter was born. Now seven years old, the young girl breastfed until she was almost five, continuing right through her mom's third pregnancy until the day before her little brother arrived.
"The day he was born I asked if she still wanted milk and she said, 'No, it's his milk now mum'. I was heartbroken, but it was her decision," Tate said.
The New South Wales mom went on to say that - although her daughter was the longest-nursed child at her playgroup - extended breastfeeding has not done her any harm.
"She is fiercely independent and just as well as adjusted as her peers," she claimed, adding: "She will say to her friends, 'I had mum milk until I was four'."
Meanwhile, lactation and parenting expert Pinky McKay suggested there could actually be major benefits to breastfeeding for a prolonged period.
"There is no use by date on the nutrients and it's a really great calming tool," she told Daily Mail Australia, adding: "It provides hormones and oxytocin that can help regulate the toddler when they are upset or hurt."
"It's like a superpower," she added.