Gran who was pregnant at the same time as her daughter admits she breastfed her grandchild
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A gran who was pregnant at the same time as her daughter says she breastfed her own grandchild.
Jane McNeice, 47, an author and businesswoman originally from Doncaster, first became a grandmother in her mid-30s when her daughter Laura became pregnant at 15.
But things became more unusual when Jane became pregnant with her second child, Oliver, when she was 37 - meaning her granddaughter, Evie, is actually two years older than her son.
Laura, now 27, chose to become a young mum and Jane said she was 'absolutely devastated' as she also chose to become a young mum herself at the age of 18.
Jane was so upset that she initially asked her daughter to have a termination when she first fell pregnant.
"It was quite a shock," Jane said of Laura's pregnancy.
"We had unusual circumstances as Laura was planned even though I had her young. But what we learned later was that Laura's pregnancy was also planned."
The grandma-of-four said that following Laura's first pregnancy with Evie, and her own pregnancy with Oliver, the pair ended up pregnant at the same time.
Jane welcomed Ben, 7, and Laura welcomed, Bella, 7, to the family.
Jane said: "At one point, Laura and I were pregnant together. I was heavily pregnant. She was newly pregnant.
"As a result, there were a couple of times I breastfed my grandchildren. I think that's quite extreme and that won't feel comfortable for everyone.
"There will be some people who think that is amazing and a complete privilege. And there will be other people who are making sicky noises at that."
Jane added that being a young grandma also means that she will have her grandchildren in her life for a lot longer than most grandparents, having welcomed her youngest child at the age of 40.
"What we have found out in the last couple of years is reasons why we might have chosen motherhood quite early on. We are both autistic," Jane explained.
Jane's son Oliver is also autistic and both Jane and Laura got their diagnosis in adulthood. Jane wrote a book about her late autism diagnosis, The Umbrella Picker.
Celebrity Christine McGuinness also discussed her late autism diagnosis in a recent BBC Three documentary, which explored all the cases of women and girls with autism that go undiagnosed. Autism is significantly more common to be diagnosed in boys than girls, however, the exact reason for the skewed ratio is unclear.
There’s only one real downside to being a young grandma according to Jane – not being able to spend as much time with her grandchildren as she’d like to because her own kids are still very young.
