> especially first born males are breastfed until they are
>twelve.

This reference is probably to some Native American groups in Alaska who were
hunters and gatherers traditionally -- a boy going out for the first time
with the men to hunt, usually around age 12, would get a mouthful of breast
milk from his mother to "protect" him on the dangerous hunt.  But he
wouldn't have been nursed up to this point -- he would have nursed for 3-4-5
years, then not nursed again until he was going out on his first hunt.
Presumbably the mom still had milk because she was nursing his younger siblings.

Kathy Dettwyler

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html