Dear Diane and others, I have been following this thread of "normal" weaning
times with interest. I especially appreciated your animal analogy ie. mare
kicking away the foal etc. and thought that was a great way to illustrate the
mother's role, at times, the dance as it is so aptly described. Although I
enjoy the discussion and exploration of the dynamics of the mother-baby
relationship in terms of weaning times, I bristle at the thought of
charactering a set age range as "normal". We need to remember that very few
mothers (comparatively speaking) nurse their babies beyond a year and of the
ones that do most wean before age 2. I realize that this is only disscusion
but we wouldn't want to alienate just educate.
I also feel it is important to include the dynamic of, for lack of a better
term, "mother-led nursing" ie. those Moms whose 18 mth old shows all the
signs that she is ready to wean but the Mom doesn't want to...We have to
believe that if the former exists, the latter does as well.
As an anecdotal aside, my number 2 and 3 children had some subtle GI type
probs when weaned and switched exclusively to cow's milk at 15 and 16 mths
respectively ie. frequent, loose stool,? lactose problems- that persist
today, intermittently, at 5 and 11 yrs of age, thus I wish I had nursed
longer........AS has been discussed MAnY times there is litlle or no support
for that, unless you are involved with La Leche, but that launches another
thread for another time!
Lynn Shea Rn,Bsn, Ibclc
Franklin, Massachusetts, where spring is hinting- no flowers yet!
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