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Didn't we just do this?
And do you know that this video is almost 3 years old?
Incidentally, the child in the video is 7 years old not 8. It is stated that she is "nearly 8" in the video. She actually did wean before her 8th birthday, so this particular mom never did nurse an 8 year old. To read her comments and perspectives on breastfeeding and on this video, here is an article:
Breastfeeding by Kate Wood (http://www.shazzie.com/raw/articles/extraordinarybreastfeeding.shtml - broken link)
Anyway, I think that if a mom wants to do child led weaning (CLW) that is fine and totally up to her. I think that most kids who are CLW will wean before they are 5, but of course there are always outliers who will go longer, like this case. It's certainly not typical, but I don't think that it means it's necessarily wrong. For moms who are dedicated to CLW, they are willing to do it until the child is done and I can respect them for that. Most moms I've heard from who are CLW and still nursing an older child are only nursing that child occasionally, say once a week or even less, and not nearly as often as the family in the video, so that's another way that this family is atypical. Heck, my 2.5 year old only nurses once a day, if that.
The WHO (and several other medical organizations too) recommends a child be breastfed for a minimum of 2 years, and thereafter as long as mutually desired by mom and baby. For myself, I would not be satisfied if I did not make it to 2 years because I feel it is nutritionally and immunologically most important up to then. But there are other reasons to nurse besides nutrition. I feel I could see myself nursing a 4 year old, but it is hard for me to imagine nursing a 5+ year old. BUT, I think it is very hard for anyone to be able to imagine before they have actually done it. When my daughter was born, I couldn't imagine nursing a 2 year old, no less a 4 year old!
As far as how long is too long in general? If I have to give an age, I think that when a child starts puberty, they are too old to nurse.
i think anything past 2 years is too much. why do doctors tell parents that once the child is a year old, they need to start drinking from a cup and no bottle, but it's ok to breastfeed this long?!
If a child is drinking formula in a bottle a doctor may (or may not depending on the doctor) tell the parent to wean them off of formula and to have them start drinking cow's milk from a cup. If a child is drinking human milk from the breast then the healthiest option is to continue drinking human milk from the breast. Human milk is specially made for human babies. Cow's milk is specially made for baby cows.
The average age for a child to wean worldwide is 4 years and 2 months.
The average age for a child to wean worldwide is 4 years and 2 months.
No, it's not. The average age worldwide falls somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years, and some mathematically-impaired person took that figure, split it in half, and decided that 4.2 years was the average.
Human milk is specially made for human babies. Cow's milk is specially made for baby cows.
I think that's a great point. It's one that I sometimes forget is not obvious to others. I am baffled that many people seem to think that cow milk would somehow be better for human babies than human milk is! (The idea that one should wean from the breast to cow milk at 12 months because baby can now tolerate cow milk) Obviously, cow milk is an adequate substitute for human milk when human milk is not available for some reason, but human milk is still the default and top choice for human babies (and toddlers!).
No, it's not. The average age worldwide falls somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years, and some mathematically-impaired person took that figure, split it in half, and decided that 4.2 years was the average.
SuSuSushi. I posted a link by the same women on page one of this thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by yodi
This is a very interesting piece on the natural age of weaning in mammals. The natural age of weaning is dependent on multiple factors such as the age that the child gets their first permanent molars, length of gestation, size of adults (larger mammals such as humans wean when their children quadruple their birth weight or reach 1/3 of their adult weight). Based on these studies the minimum predicted age for a natural age of weaning in humans is 2.5 years and a maximum of 7 years.
A Natural Age of Weaning
I do agree that the statistic that states that the average age of weaning in humans is 4.2 is flawed due to the fact that many women do not nurse at all or only do so for a couple of weeks while others nurse their children until they are much older.
I am a huge proponet of breastfeeding and child led weaning. I am still nursing my 2 and a half year old and am well aware of the benefits of extended breastfeeding.
I believe that the statistic actually is supposed to refer to the average age of natural weaning, which would be different from the worldwide average age of overall weaning because many people do not nurse at all or only do so for a very short period of time. I have seen it attributed to the textbook:
Lawrence, R. A. and R. M. Lawrence. Breastfeeding:A Guide for the Medical Profession. Google won't let me read much of the text though to see where they attribute it to, though I can see that they discuss weaning ages in various cultures on page 7 at least! Yah, not much help...
Yes, human milk is ideal for babies and toddlers. But this video is of a nearly 8 year old child, not a baby or a toddler. Where is the proper cut off? There has to be some point where humans no longer need human milk or we would still be drinking human milk as adults. I personally feel that 7 or 8 years old is awfully old to still be breastfeeding. To each their own I guess.
I am for breastfeeding 100%. At least until a year, possibly 2 depending on the child.
NO WAY would I even consider an 6, 7, 8 year old!! They don't NEED the breastmilk any longer! I'm not talking about in countries where there isn't enough nutritional foods. If your child has a well-balanced diet, there is no reason for it to go on that long.
I feel it's just become a habit, like thumb sucking or a security blanket.
I say they should be weaned by their 2nd birthday.
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I personally feel that 7 or 8 years old is awfully old to still be breastfeeding. To each their own I guess.