Yowza! Breastfeeding an 8 yr. old boy seems a bit extreme to me. I agree with detective that mom should be trying to help her son find other methods of comforting himself. That's how you teach your kids to be independent and self reliant.
Where's dad in all this? Does he have a problem with his wife breastfeeding their 8 yr. old son? I didn't read the article, so I apologize if that question's addressed in there somewhere. The reason I ask is because my hubby and I are going through a similar situation with our 5 yr old daugher regarding a "comfort" issue.
We (I) allowed her to sleep with us up until last year and we're having a little problem keeping her from coming into our bed at night when she wakes up now. The problem is that her sleeping next to us was a comfort issue with me as well as her. When she was an infant, Sieg and I separated for awhile because of alcohol abuse issues. During that time, she slept with me since we were crashing at my oldest son's house. After we reunited, she continued sleeping with us until we decided that it would be best for her to start sleeping in her own room. She's a fitful sleeper (which is why she wakes up often during the night) and obviously getting too old/big to sleep with us. At this point, she's doing pretty well staying in her room, but she doesn't really have the knack of comforting herself if she wakes up from a bad dream (or because she kicks around so darn much).
The point is that my husband and I are working on helping her to develop that ability together. I don't think that I'd be so inclined to force the issue if he wasn't involved. Like I said, it's a comfort issue for me as well. I think it may be for this mom as well, and she should really let go of her son on this. Isn't that what we do when we teach them to grow up? Let them go a little bit at a time?
All I know is that if my daughter is still wanting to sleep in bed with us all the time when she's 8, I'd have to really put my foot down and probably make her feel rejected. That's waaaaay too old for that sort of thing imo.
That mother is doing a disservice to her son, but I'm not among the ewwwwwww crowd.