>I love the breastfed
>toddlers, they drink just the right amount and learn to eat family foods
>because they are used to a variety of flavors (from mom's milk).  {Haha
>gotcha -  we don't "know" how MUCH milk they get, but I "know" it is the
>RIGHT amount.}

I wonder.  The mothers of most breastfed toddlers would be astounded to
hear that the biologically normal "weaning window" seems to be between 2
1/2 and 7 years.  That means that the truly "normal" toddler is probably
getting a pretty hefty dose of human milk at age 2 or even 3.  Yet the
typical American nursing todder may be nursing only a couple times a day at
12-18 months.  Of more concern to me, the typical 9 month old may be
nursing just a few times a day, with mom having her eye on weaning at a
year but with the evils of formula burned into her brain, so that baby is
heavily into solids instead.

Aren't these babies being shortchanged of *an awful lot* of milk?  Is the
difference in volume really made up with cow milk or formula in the typical
family?  What happens if it isn't?  For that matter, what happens if it
*is*?

Do any of you have rough figures for how much human milk the "normal" (not
typical) baby should be getting at 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years,
3 years?  I'm increasingly nervous about the longterm consequences of
milk-deprived kids whose moms aren't replacing their prematurely waning
milk supplies with any other form of milk - and I'm even concerned about
moms who are.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, wanting to know whether to fret in Ithaca, NY