Breastfeeding - how long is too long?
A news station in the BBC has caused quite a stir online with their piece on “Extraordinary Breastfeeding”. Great Britain apparently has lousy breastfeeding rates overall, but this piece focused on mums who practice extended – and sometimes really extended – breastfeeding. Get any group of moms together, ask them at what age a child should be weaned by, and you will get a wide variety of answers. There are comments from moms on the news piece above that state that breastfeeding beyond 6 months of age is abuse. Others feel like 2-3 years should be the limit. Still others say 5 or older. Who’s right? The probable answer is no one. I don’t think that anyone can list a hard and fast rule about when a child should wean. Anthropologists seem to be in agreement that historically children were breastfed well into their third year and beyond. Ultimately when to wean is a very personal decision, and one that I believe should be left for individual families to work out on their own.
