Recently we had a discussion on our
Facebook page about 'extended'
breastfeeding (extended meaning anything beyond the U.S. average duration of 6 months). A sampling of the responses were:
"I would say that after 3, that is too long";
"I would not be horrified to see a mother
breastfeeding her toddler child. There are so many
benefits to extended
breastfeeding."
"I think if the 'baby' can
un-do your bra, that's too long!"
While around 77% of moms in the U.S. breastfeed for some period of time, 43% were
breastfeeding at 6 months, and 21% at 12 months. There is a surprising lack of data on
breastfeeding rates after 1 year of age, partly because the company that has been the main compiler of
breastfeeding rates, Ross
Laboratories, only measures data up to 12 months because that is
their target group for formula marketing, and I suspect that not many people focus much attention on toddler nursing because the percentages of U.S. moms doing it are lower and because just getting moms to nurse for
at least the first 12 months has been enough of a challenge.
So how long to nurse? The World Health
Organization recommends
breastfeeding for
at least 2 years. It's not so unusual in other countries to nurse 2 years and beyond. The American Academy of Pediatrics takes a
conservative stance and recommends
breastfeeding for
at least the first year. The tremendous health benefits of nursing do not stop at 1 or 2 years of age. They continue for the duration and have life-long health
benefits. Not only does
breastfeeding protect against ear infections,
gastrointestinal ailments, diabetes,
Crohn's Disease,
Celiac Disease,
leukemia, arthritis, obesity and
osteoporosis, (and so much more!) but
breastfeeding protects both mother and baby against breast cancer. Did you know that
breastfeeding for 7 years total or longer reduces your risk of breast cancer to almost zero? I truly believe that this is the American Cancer Society's most under-utilized pieces of information!
So why do we wean so early? The top reasons are societal views and norms, education (less educated women tend to breastfeed for a shorter amount of time), and lack of support and education in
breastfeeding. The US has so many working moms and that certainly has an impact on duration of
breastfeeding. Generally, babies of working moms receive artificial nipples for a portion of the day and artificial nipples (including pacifiers) result in earlier weaning.
Kathleen
Detwyler,
Ph.D, has done a lot of amazing research on
breastfeeding and has come up with this: "The minimum predicted age for a natural age of weaning in humans is 2.5 years with a maximum of 7 years." For some very interesting reading, visit her website and read her fascinating research!
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/Comments, thoughts & opinions?
