There are many benefits of extended breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing for at least the first year of your baby's life.
- Your baby continues to get the immunological advantages of human milk, during a time when he is increasingly exposed to infection. Breastfed toddlers are healthier overall.
- When he is upset, hurt, frightened or sick, you have a built in way to comfort him. Often a sick child will accept breastmilk when he refuses other foods.
- Many of the medical benefits of breastfeeding (lower cancer risk in mother and baby, for example) are dose related - in other words, the longer you breastfeed, the greater the protective effects.
- Human milk offers protection for the child who is allergic.
- Mothering a toddler is challenging enough - nursing makes the job of caring for and comforting him easier. There is no better way to ease a temper tantrum, or put a cranky child to sleep than by nursing.
- Nursing provides closeness, security and stability during a period of rapid growth and development.
- Letting your baby set the pace for weaning spares you the unpleasant task of weaning him before he is ready.
It should be obvious that I have a bias toward baby-led weaning. It just makes sense to me on so many levels. If someone tells you that babies shouldn't be nursed past six months, or one year, try asking them "Why?" They will be hard put to come up with a reason that makes sense, much less one that they can back up with any empirical evidence.
This is not to say that I think long- term nursing is right for everyone. When to wean is a very individual decision, and sometimes early weaning is the right decision. If a baby is not happy and thriving, and a mother is so stressed that she can't enjoy her baby, then it may be time to wean. Most babies do quite well on formula, and breastfeeding at all costs is not the most important consideration. You also need to be aware than nursing for days or weeks (or even one feeding at the breast) still offers important benefits to your baby. Nursing should never be an endurance contest.
Guidelines for Early Weaning
If you do decide that early weaning is right for you and your
baby, here are some guidelines to follow:
- Try to do it as gradually as possible. Eliminate one feeding each day for several days to allow your milk supply to decrease slowly. After a couple of weeks, he should be down to nursing just a couple of times a day. Usually the last feedings to go are the first one in the morning, and the last one at night. If you're not in a huge rush, you may want to continue these couple of feeding for another week or two.
- Talk to your baby's doctor to find out what formula he recommends. Since babies are not ready for cow's milk until they are a year old, it is important to find the appropriate formula.
- Since young babies have a strong need to suck, offer a substitute (bottle or pacifier). Some babies will find their thumbs during this period, and there's not much you can do about that one way or the other. There are advantages to having a thumb-sucker - those babies tend to be self-soothers, and often are better sleepers and travelers than babies who depend on pacifiers.
- Offer lots of physical closeness during this time. There is a tendency to avoid cuddling, because the baby associates the nursing position with breastfeeding, but it is important to snuggle your baby and get lots of skin-to-skin contact, even if you avoid the cradle hold.
If the decision is left up to them, most babies will wean themselves gradually, beginning by cutting back on nursing around the time they start solids. Physically, most toddlers are "ready" to wean. Nursing a child who is no longer an infant is done more out of concern for his psychological and emotional needs than for his nutritional ones. However, there are some older babies who make the transition from infancy to toddler-hood without the slightness indication of readiness to wean.
© Copyright 2003-7 SheKnows, LLC and/or individual copyright holders. All Rights Reserved.
1 |
