My N=2 but 7 years of nursing! and in my work I see it both ways...I do think 
the amount of support a mom has as she has more children likely impacts how 
long she breastfeeds younger sibs..would make a great research project...

1987 - Breastfed to 3rd birthday. 
I "negotiated" the weaning...hadn't thought about this in a while since he's 
now at college and the mothering is so different at this stage...anyhow the 
recent posts reminded me how my desire to wean had a lot to do with him not 
really transfering milk by then but more "playing" which was no longer a 
pleasant sensation for me...I recall joking with my husband that since our son 
was so verbal, I might need to get a lawyer to negotiate a weaning date...We 
live on a farm and so I tried discussing with my then almost 3 yr old.. "When 
the baby calves are little they have "nons" (his word) then they grow up and 
eat hay...when the lambs are little babies they have nons then they get big 
and eat grain etc through puppies, kittens, goats and all the mammals known 
to him, finishing up with "So when you were a little baby you had nons and 
now that you are such a big boy...he cut right in and said "I'll have BIG nons!" 
So we nursed a little longer..

1994 - breastfed to around 4th birthday ..again mostly hit and run comfort 
nursing for her at that point and not every day.  I opted to stop due to a med 
that now is considered the drug of choice but back then was not as well 
studied and at that point I didn't want any risk..In retrospect..probably not 
such a big risk at all given the quantity of actual milk transfer likely to be 
occuring then...

Bumper stickers - none now but last car had "Affordable Health care begins 
with breastfeeding" and one about supporting our schools...My friend said "Oh 
I always know it's your car with those "Breastfeed our schools"  bumper 
stickers!! My brilliant negotiator son happily inherited that vehicle, bumper 
stickers and all when he got his license and got a kick out of the comments he 
got from his buddies and perfect strangers...

Thanks for bringing up those fond memories. They'll help propel me to work on 
this rainy Sat AM where I'm bound to find the usual challenges of supporting 
breastfeeding in a large hospital setting...

Cindi Zembo

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