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Because more and more women
are now breastfeeding their babies, more
and more are also finding that they enjoy
breastfeeding enough to want to continue
longer than the usual few months they initially
thought they would. UNICEF has long encouraged
breastfeeding for two years and longer,
and the American Academy of Pediatrics is
now on record as encouraging mothers to
nurse at least one year and as long after
as both mother and baby desire. Even the
Canadian Paediatric Society, in its latest
feeding statement acknowledges that women
may want to breastfeed for two years or
longer and Health Canada has put out a statement
similar to UNICEF’s. Breastfeeding
to 3 and 4 years of age has been common
in much of the world until recently in human
history, and it is still common in many
societies for toddlers to breastfeed.
Why should breastfeeding
continue past six months?
Because mothers and babies
often enjoy breastfeeding a lot. Why stop
an enjoyable relationship? And continued
breastfeeding is even good for the health
and welfare of both the mother and child.
But it is said that
breastmilk has no value after six months.
Perhaps this is said, but
it is patently wrong. That anyone (including
paediatricians) can say such a thing only
shows how ignorant so many people in our
society are about breastfeeding. Breastmilk
is, after all, milk. Even after six months,
it still contains protein, fat, and other
nutritionally important and appropriate
elements which babies and children need.
Breastmilk still contains immunologic factors
that help protect the baby. In fact, some
immune factors in breastmilk that protect
the baby against infection are present in
greater amounts in the second year of life
than in the first. This is, of course as
it should be, since children older than
a year are generally exposed to more sources
of infection. Breastmilk still contains
special growth factors that help the immune
system to mature, and which help the brain,
gut, and other organs to develop and mature.
It has been well shown
that children in daycare who are still breastfeeding
have far fewer and less severe infections
than the children who are not breastfeeding.
The mother thus loses less work time if
she continues nursing her baby once she
is back at her paid work.
It is interesting that
formula company marketing pushes the use
of formula (a very poor copy of the real
thing) for a year, yet implies that breastmilk
(from which the poor copy is made) is only
worthwhile for 6 months or even less (“the
best nutrition for newborns”). Too
many health professionals have taken up
the refrain.
I have heard that the
immunologic factors in breastmilk prevent
the baby from developing his own immunity
if I breastfeed past six months.
This is untrue; in fact,
this is absurd. It is unbelievable how so
many people in our society twist around
the advantages of breastfeeding and turn
them into disadvantages. We give babies
immunizations so that they are able to defend
themselves against the real infection. Breastmilk
also helps the baby to fight off infections.
When the baby fights off these infections,
he becomes immune. Naturally.
But I want my baby to
become independent.
And breastfeeding makes
the toddler dependent? Don’t believe
it. The child who breastfeeds until he weans
himself (usually from 2 to 4 years), is
generally more independent, and, perhaps,
more importantly, more secure in his independence.
He has received comfort and security from
the breast, until he is ready to make the
step himself to stop. And when he makes
that step himself, he knows he has achieved
something, he knows he has moved ahead.
It is a milestone in his life.
Often we push children
to become "independent" too quickly.
To sleep alone too soon, to wean from the
breast too soon, to do without their parents
too soon, to do everything too soon. Don’t
push and the child will become independent
soon enough. What’s the rush? Soon
they will be leaving home. You want them
to leave home at 14? If a need is met, it
goes away. If a need is unmet (such as the
need to breastfeed and be close to mom),
it remains a need well into childhood and
even the teenage years.
Of course, breastfeeding
can, in some situations, be used to foster
an over dependent relationship. But so can
food and toilet training. The problem is
not the breastfeeding. This is another issue.
What else?
Possibly the most important aspect of nursing
a toddler is not the nutritional or immunologic
benefits, important as they are. I believe
the most important aspect of nursing a toddler
is the special relationship between child
and mother. Breastfeeding is a life-affirming
act of love. This continues when the baby
becomes a toddler. Anyone without prejudices,
who has ever observed an older baby or toddler
nursing can testify that there is something
almost magical, something special, something
far beyond food going on. A toddler will
sometimes spontaneously, for no obvious
reason, break into laughter while he is
nursing. His delight in the breast goes
far beyond a source of food. And if the
mother allows herself, breastfeeding becomes
a source of delight for her as well, far
beyond the pleasure of providing food. Of
course, it’s not always great, but
what is? But when it is, it makes it all
so worthwhile.
And if the child does become
ill or does get hurt (and they do as they
meet other children and become more daring),
what easier way to comfort the child than
breastfeeding? I remember nights in the
emergency department when mothers would
walk their ill, non-nursing babies or toddlers
up and down the halls trying, often unsuccessfully,
to console them, while the nursing mothers
were sitting quietly with their comforted,
if not necessarily happy, babies at the
breast. The mother comforts the sick child
with breastfeeding, and the child comforts
the mother by breastfeeding.
Questions? (416) 813-5757
(option 3) or drjacknewman@sympatico.ca
or my book Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide
to Breastfeeding (called The Ultimate Breastfeeding
Book of Answers in the USA)
Handout #21. Breastfeed
a Toddler—Why on Earth?. January 2005
Written by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC. ©
2005
This handout may be copied
and distributed without further permission,
on the condition that it is not used in
any context in which the WHO code on the
marketing of breastmilk substitutes is violated
1. Breastfeeding:
Starting out right
a) The
importance of Skin-to-Skin contact
2. Colic in the Breastfed Baby
3. a) Sore Nipples
b) Treatments
for Sore Nipple and Sore Breasts
4. Is my baby getting enough?
5. Using a Lactation Aid
6. Using Gentian Violet
7. Breastfeeding and Jaundice
8. Finger Feeding
9. a) You should continue breastfeeding
(Medications and breastfeeding)
b) You
should continue breastfeeding (Illness in the mother or baby)
10. Breastfeeding and other foods
11. Some breastfeeding myths
12. More breastfeeding myths
13. Still more breastfeeding
myths
14. More and more breastfeeding
myths
15. Breast compression
16. Starting solid foods
17. What to feed the baby when
the mother is working outside the home
18. How to know a health professional
is not supportive of breastfeeding
19. a) Domperidone 1
b) Domperidone
2
20. Fluconazole
21. Breastfeed a toddler –
Why on earth?
22. Blocked ducts and
mastitis
23. Breastfeeding your adopted baby
24. Miscellaneous treatments for problems
25. Slow weight gain after
the first few months
26. When the Baby refuses to
latch on
27. Expressing Milk
28. Toxins and Infant Feeding
How breastmilk protects Newborns
Risks of formula feeding
Breastfeeding and guilt
Candida protocol
Protocol to increase the intake
of Breastmilk by the Baby ("Not enough milk")
When latching
Protocols for Induced Lactation
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