Establishing breastfeeding is not always easy and in the first few weeks eight out of ten women who stop do so before they had intended to. However once breastfeeding is going well it usually becomes a very important and enjoyable part of mothering. Breastfeeding, co-sleeping with a baby and carrying them close in a sling can be natural and normal ways of mothering, and babies instinctively expect to breastfeed and to be near to their mother. This is not a lifestyle choice and it is not just about the way a mother gives her baby food; it is part of the whole mother/baby relationship.
Breastfeeding continues to offer benefits to mother and child, both to their health and mental and emotional well being, for as long as it continues. It is sometimes thought that there is a point where breastmilk no long offers any benefits but this is not accurate. Breastmilk maintains nutritional value as well as emotional benefits and the World Health Organisation and the Department of Health recommend that breastfeeding continues, with the appropriate additional of complementary foods, for two years and beyond.
Natural weaning allows for differences in children. A child who weans gradually is able to maintain his emotional attachment to his mother, rather than being forced to switch to an inanimate object such as a cuddly toy or blanket.Rapid weaning may cause the breasts to become uncomfortably full; a mother’s body responds to signals to reduce milk production only gradually. Abrupt weaning may leave the child feeling his mother has withdrawn her love as well as her breast.
3 Mohrbacher, N., Stock, J. The Breastfeeding Answer Book. Schaumburg, Illinois: LLLI, 2003AP 1997; Goldman, A. Immunologic components in human milk during the second year of lactation. Acta Paediatr Scand 1983; 72:461-62; Gulick, E. The effects of breastfeeding on toddler health. Ped Nursing 1986; 12:51-54.; Saarinen, U. Prolonged breastfeeding as prophylaxis for recurrent Otitis media. Acta Paediatr Scand 1982; 71:567-71.
4 van den Bogaard, C. et al. The relationship between breast feeding and early childhood morbidity in a general population. Family Med 1991; 23:510-15.
5 Ferguson, D.M. et al. Breastfeeding and subsequent social adjustment in six- to eight-year-old children. J Child Psychol Psychiatr Allied Discip 1987; 28:378-86.
Copyright LLLGB 2016, originally published on this website as The Breastfeeding Dyad.