Poll Results: When Should a Nursling Wean?
February 6, 2007 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under poll, weaning
The poll results get more and more interesting as the number of responses grows. For the last poll I asked: “Tell us how long you plan to nurse or simply your opinion on weaning by answering: When should a nursling wean?”
The results surprised and pleased me with the answers weighted heavily towards a combination of mother- and child-led weaning (37%) or child-led weaning (24%), followed by “I’m not sure. We’ll see how it goes.” (17%).
The full results:
Please answer the new poll in the sidebar! To see all prior poll results, click here.
I don’t understand the option “When both mother and child are ready”. If the child is ready to wean, the mother isn’t going to be able to force him/her onto the breast at regular intervals and pretend like she is still a nursing mother. In this regard, the child gets to choose, not the mom.
That’s my opinion, anyway.
Sometimes a child might happily continue to nurse but is “ready to wean” in the sense that s/he has started to cut back on the number of nursings and will happily accept alternatives to nursing such as food, drink, comfort and distraction. Weaning in that case would likely proceed slower than “mother-led” weaning but faster than “child-led” weaning (where the mother offers no encouragement at all to wean).
It’s a personal choice what a woman wants to do but I don’t think I would do it for longer than a year. They start drinking cow’s milk after a year anyway so they don’t really need breast milk. Yeah, it’s rich in nutrients and it’s so good for their development but after about a year, it’s not really needed as far as nutrition goes. A baby can get their nutrition from cow’s milk and solids. I was only breastfed for about a month I believe and I’m still thriving even though I did not receive the recommended amount (1 year) that the American academy of Pediatrics says infants should have. Of course people are always quick to tell you what to do with your baby…it’s your own decision! It’s none of their business.
It’s definitely a personal choice. Many women choose to breastfeed longer than a year though because in addition to providing nutrition, breast milk provides antibodies that protect a child from illness. The American Academy of Family Physicians actually warns: “If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned.”
I have a 3 year old and I push a bit for her to wind off about partly because she love brest feedings and now she only feeds but no more milk comes out, because is only for half of a minute on each breast before she says good night and once in a wile a when she feels scared and needs confert. I now want to have an other child and wonder if this will decresse my fertilty I am 39 an she also is crazy in love with the idea of haveing a brother or sister, she ask her dad to give lots of love to mom so she can have a new baby in tha familly.
Sorry about my spelling I am from Mexico and I’ll love your support. I am also very happy to know that you exist. Here in Mexico too among the woman is not comment to breast feed for as long as I choose to do so, but hey is my dougthers life and mine that I care about the most.
Gracias
Lots of love
Marisol