In a culture where most mothers wean their babies from the breast before three years of age, the thought of a mother continuing to nurse her son or daughter in the hood or beyond the sheets is shocking to some. Despite extensive research identifying early breastfeeding as a risk factor for disease and illness, and despite the recommendations of international medical leaders to continue breastfeeding for at least 2 years or beyond, fewer than 7 percent of American mothers continue to breastfeed their children at 18 months.
Benefits of extended breastfeeding
While the benefits of breastfeeding are well known and understood, the benefits of extended breastfeeding are less well known and even less understood. The benefits of the womb belong to the mother and to the child, and last for the time that the mother carries the child to her womb, whether that duration lasts six months or six years. They certainly do not cease to be at any certain age. According to the American Pediatric Association’s breastfeeding policy, “Increased duration of breastfeeding contributes significant health and developmental benefits to mother and child.
Mothers, some of the benefits of fertility are cumulative and the longer a woman breastfeeds her children, the greater her risk of developing various diseases. Breastfeeding reduces maternal risk for ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, uterine cancer, breast cancer and osteoporosis. A woman who breastfeeds her baby for at least a year will effectively reduce her risk of developing breast by 11%. If a child is fed by age 2, it reduces its risk by 25% breast cancer by 25%. If a mother breastfeeds her child or children for a cumulative seven years over her life, her risk of developing breast cancer is almost completely reduced.
Mothers not only experience a reduction in the risk of developing osteoporosis and cancers, but often experience other beneficial health effects during the months or years that they breastfeed their children. Diabetic mothers often experience a reduction in insulin requirements for the duration they breastfeed. A study published in the August 2001 issue of Human Reproduction revealed that mothers suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome—a disease characterized by insulin resistance and Infertility experience beneficial effects on blood sugar levels during lactation.
Mothers are not the only ones who benefit from breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding, as children also experience greater, cumulative benefits the longer they breastfeed. Indeed, weaning early or to infant formula a baby born under one year old or cow’s milk to a year old is greater with the risk of developing disease both in in youth than in adulthood.
Children who breastfeed beyond the first year of life benefit nutritionally from the breast in many ways that infants benefit nutritionally, even though they do not rely entirely on the breast. A 1998 study published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin published by the United Nations Press indicates that dairy continues to be an important source of nutrition , especially vitamin A, in the second and third years of life.
In fact, just 15 ounces of breast milk provides about 75% of vitamin A requirements and 60% of vitamin C requirements in the second year. But against 15 ounces of the whole cow’s milk supply only 36% of the vitamin A requirement and 0% of the vitamin C requirement in the second year.
Additionally, babies who are breastfed for a longer period of time have fewer illnesses than those who are breastfed. The mother produces elements of various environmental pathogens the entire time she is breastfeeding, and the student benefits from these elements, regardless of his age. In addition to bodies, another critical factor in breast milk is the presence of many immunoglobulins and other immune factors, the union of which increases after the first year of lactation, perhaps contributing to the fact that nursing infants present fewer diseases and illnesses of shorter duration than their weaned counterparts. . The American Academy of Family Physicians has noted that children weaned before the age of two are at increased risk of illness. The World Health Organization stated that “a small increase in breastfeeding rates could prevent up to 10% of all deaths of children under five: Breastfeeding is an essential and sometimes underestimated role in treatment and prevention lack of diseases.”
What do the experts say?
While they are respected by medical organizations such as the Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization, they can differ in the smallest amount time. A mother should breastfeed her children, they agree on two things: to breastfeed exclusively for six months, and mothers to breastfeed their children as long as they mutually desired. Sadly, fewer than 15% of US mothers follow the current recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding (no solids, no formula, no water supplements or liquids of any kind) for six months according to a 2005 study by the Centers for Disease Control.
In its recommendation that infants be breastfed for at least 12 months, the AAP is largely alone in including most authorities on health care< /a> WHO, UNICEF, the Canadian Pediatric Society and the Australian Pediatric Society all recommend breastfeeding for at least twenty-four months.
It must be confirmed that twelve and twenty-four months, respectively, are the minimum age, when infants are considered to be able to breastfeed and breastfeed, and ideally to remain beyond the minimum, as long as mother and child are desired. On the topic of extended breastfeeding, the AAP writes, “There is no upper limit for the duration of breastfeeding for psychological evidence or the development of harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.”
Many children, when choosing to wean their babies, will wean at about four to four and a half years, with some children weaning earlier and others weaning later. A survey conducted between 1996 and 1998 and published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology examined natural breastfeeding among 1,280 US infants who were breastfed for at least three years. Among these children who were breastfed for an extended period, the average age of weaning was already over four years with some children weaning as early as 3 years and others weaning as late as 9.5 years. Approximately 45% of children are weaned before the age of four with fewer than 5% weaned after 6.5 years.
Noted biocultural anthropologist and lactation researcher Katherine Dettwyler estimates that the biological normal weaning age for humans is between 2.5 and 7 years with some children weaning before, others weaning later. He also writes that “there is no research to support the claim that breastfeeding a child at any age it’s just harmful to the child. >, the effects are that babies are allowed to breastfeed as long as they need/want to.
Although research has been conducted among pregnant women, many studies indicate the risks and dangers of early weaning, but no research indicates a risk to the extended breast; indeed, the research that exists on the matter of extended breastfeeding indicates that the practice benefits both mother and child.
So when are you excited?
While choosing a parent’s weaning or weaning is ultimately a personal choice, just like choosing to breastfeed for an extended period of time, one must consider and consider the benefits of extended breastfeeding for both mother and child as well as the recommendation of health institutions and professionals in the field of lactation.
Mothers benefit from a reduced risk of various diseases, as do their children. Children benefit nutritionally from breast milk than from cow’s milk, which is often recommended when a child is weaned.
According to the most recent recommendations, the mother should only breastfeed for the first six months and continue to breastfeed for at least one year to meet the minimum recommendation of the AAP, preferably two to meet the WHO recommendation and as long as she and her child care to continue. A mother who continues to breastfeed beyond the minimum recommendation should be willing and able to provide her child with countless benefits. supported in his efforts.