“Still breastfeeding your daughter? She’ll be breastfeeding until she’s 18!”
“Breastfeeding at this age? Haven’t you got something better to do?”
These are just some of the comments that I heard on my 4-year breastfeeding journey.
Yet, breastfeeding beyond infancy is actually the norm, and not an exception to the norm.
According to a study, in the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
- 29% of energy requirements
- 43% of protein requirements
- 36% of calcium requirements
- 75% of vitamin A requirements
- 76% of folate requirements
- 94% of vitamin B12 requirements
- 60% of vitamin C requirements
In one study of 250 toddlers in Kenya, solid food intake increased after weaning, but not enough to replace all the fat, vitamin A, and niacin that the child had been getting via breastfeeding (Onyango 2002).
The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that breastfeeding continues throughout the first year of life and that:
“It has been estimated that a natural weaning age for humans is between two and seven years. Family physicians should be knowledgeable regarding the ongoing benefits to the child of extended breastfeeding, including continued immune protection, better social adjustment, and having a sustainable food source in times of emergency. The longer women breastfeed, the greater the decrease in their risk of breast cancer.”
So why am I breastfeeding our 4-year old and in public too? Just click play and discover it all in this video today.
Don’t forget to leave your comments and thoughts on breastfeeding below!
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Scientific sources: https://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/ebf-benefits/
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I totally get you. My grandmother feed my mom and two other girst and two boys until they were 6 years old. Not strange to me ? If i had children, I would do the same ? Keep up the good work, ….do you…. and forget about all the negative coments. You are beutiful and your family too. God bless you!!
Thank you so much for your kind comments G Vas.
Interesting… but at what age do you draw the line? At what age does it get weird for both parent and child? I remember reading an article that suggested 7 was the cut off…
when you loose all your milk teeth, you cant get milk out anymore…so thats when its natural to wean.
I remember my grandmother(who was born in 1887) saying to me concerning how long she breast fed her children(she had 10), “As long as they were weaned before they started 1st grade, it was fine”.
Good on you, as long as you can produce milk and the child wants it, I think it is okay to go as long as possible, keeps them healthy for sure. I could only manage until 2 years old with my son and only just, he cried for 2 weeks about it when I ran out. I am sure what I know now I could have extended it with better nutrition for myself.
? thank you for this video! I have so many people telling me to stop breastfeeding my 2 1/2 year old but your right, follow your heart. I intend on letting her wean when she wants too! X
Great stuff Sarah! You are doing your daughter a wealth of good.
Very informative video that I hope empowers parents to give their children this great start in life for all forms of health. Hurray for normal and brave breastfeeding mothers and their supportive families to provide and protect their children like this especially these days with children born with HUNDREDS OF UNNATURAL TOXIC CHEMICALS in their tiny bodies. This is factual based on recent scientific studies on the umbilical cord blood of new born babies here in the West on Standard American Diet. Maybe you can research this topic and do a video on it.
I breast fed my son until he weened himself, right before his 4th birthday..