Coco Austin has defended her choice to breastfeed her daughter Chanel until she turned six years old.

In a recent episode of Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the 46-year-old model and television star discussed how breastfeeding served as a significant bonding moment between her and Chanel.

“It wasn’t about nourishment because she was already eating solid foods by the time she was one,” Austin explained. “It was more about the connection and providing comfort. Chanel wanted to be close to me, and I felt it was important to let her decide when to stop.”

Austin, who shares her daughter with husband Ice T, mentioned she was confident that Chanel would naturally outgrow breastfeeding.

“I knew she wouldn’t be breastfeeding at 16,” Austin remarked. “She would eventually realize it was unusual, which she did around age six. It might seem like a long time to some, but in Europe, breastfeeding until age seven is common. Americans tend to view it differently.”

“She’s not gonna be 16 on my boob,” Austin said. “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. But in Europe, they’re doing till 7. Like, it’s nothing to them. I mean, Americans think that’s weird.”

The mom added that for Chanel, breastfeeding had become a source of comfort more than anything.

“It was mostly when she went to sleep, she wanted me to be there. So it was more of like a comfort thing with her, but I got so many people that loved it. Like, they were on my side,” she said. “I had everybody come out of the woodwork when it comes to breastfeeding ladies.”

Nevertheless, Austin said she’s glad she spoke openly about it.

“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.”

Coco also revealed that Chanel, now 9, still loves being close to her.

“She loves boobs,” she said. “I think she’s like she’s always very comforted. She’s like sitting always sitting there laying on me and then it’s just a really nice moment because it’s not gonna be like this when they get into the teenage years.”