It's easy enough to look up in the Koran and see what it says about weaning
-- it is clearly in the context of a divorcing couple, and says that the
child is entitled to his minimum full two years of breastfeeding, so the mom
gets custody until the child is two, after which the child can go to the
dad.  Dad must pay a wetnurse til the child is two if he takes the child
earlier.  These are clearly MINIMUM rules, not MAXIMUM rules.  Don't have a
Koran handy to quote the exact verse and words, but I've studied this at
some length.

Many Muslims think the Koran guideline about 2 years means maximum, rather
than minimum, just as many US pediatricians thought the old American Academy
of Pediatrics guidelines meant a maximum of 12 months of breastfeeding when
they really just said "don't introduce cow's milk til 6-12 months of age,
before that either breastfeed or use formula."  That's why the AAP was so
careful in 1997 to state explicitly that one year was the MINIMUM.
Unfortunately, I still hear people saying that the AAP recommends "one year"
of breastfeeding, no more/no less.

So don't be surprised if some Muslims are not familiar with the Koran.  By
the way, I looked at many different versions/publications/dates of the
Koran, all in English, and they all said the same thing -- 2 years is the
minimum.  The Koran gives no guidelines at all about how long to nurse if
the parents are not getting divorced.





Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.

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