Breastfeeding Beyond Toddlerhood
BREASTFEEDING BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR IS NORMAL
Breastfeeding is known to have beneficial properties beyond providing calories and nutrition. It also meets the needs of pain relief, emotional support, immune protection, brain development, and so much more. Those needs do not suddenly disappear after your child turns one. Some parents may feel pressured to wean their children once they become one. If that is the goal of the family, great! Different cultures and families have various beliefs on when a child should be weaned. Families that don’t follow strict rules and allow the dyad to provide human milk “as long as they want” usually self-weaning occurs around 4 years of age.
INTERESTING INFORMATION ON WEANING
Studies have shown that a child’s immune system is not completely mature until about 6 years of age.
One study of primates showed that their offspring weaned when they reached a third of their adult weight. For humans, this would occur beginning at 5-7 years of age.
Other smaller mammals wean their offspring when they have tripled birth weight, and larger mammals wean when birth weight quadrupled. For humans, birth weight quadruples around 2-3 years of age.
Holly Smith studied a group of primates, twenty-one different species, and found that their offspring weaned at the time that the first permanent molars were erupting. For humans, this would be around 5 1/2 years of age.
BENEFITS
There are not any appropriate studies that reach beyond two years of age, but following trends may mean that there are continuing benefits the longer you nurse. We also aren’t able to fully know how breastmilk changes after a year of breastfeeding. In between year 1 and 2 of lactation, fat and protein usually increase, and carbohydrates decrease. Antibodies often remain high in breastmilk and calcium remains constant. Breastfeeding is a healthy activity for both mothers and infants. Breastfeeding supports growth and development in children. For example, the physical action of a baby’s mouth opening around a mother’s breast helps the upper and lower jaws develop properly. Suckling at the breast differs from sucking a bottle where less muscular activity is involved.
It could be possible that longer duration could further improve cognitive development later in life, including improved memory retention, greater language skills, and intelligence.
It’s simply practical! Sleep and soothing for the child and mother is eased by breastfeeding. During illness, it may be the only way that a child would take anything in and keep it down.
For the lactating parent, breastfeeding can lower the amount of insulin needed for some.
SUPPORT
Even within our Western Culture, when our journey happens to extend longer than the majority of those around us, the social criticism leads to families being secret with disclosing their journey. We owe it to our children to provide the parents with support and encouragement so that families can make informed decisions about infant and child feeding. This includes removing pressures and providing appropriate resources so that families can reach their goals.
Current recommendations on breastfeeding duration:
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization support continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods for 2 years or longer and as long as mutually desired by the mother and child.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6008960/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6096620/