On Sat, 26 Mar 2005, Rachel Myr wrote: > As I understand it, menopause is pretty much a one-way street, and once > you have entered perimenopause, you don't turn around and go back to > pre-menopause. It is also well established that perimenopause can last > for years. Further, there is no risk to the child or to the mother from > continuing to breastfeed during this time. I'm with the mother on this > one. There isn't much to support the doctor's theory that breastfeeding > is causing her symptoms, and certainly nothing at all to support weaning > as a strategy to deal with them or the underlying cause. If she indeed > is in perimenopause, she is unlikely to get a lot more chances to > breastfeed either, so if she and her child are still enjoying it, why > stop? OH! I did intend to add to my anecdotes that I think this doctor is way off-base to suggest that this mother wean her baby. I think every child should breastfeed as long as s/he wants to breastfeed, and, even if this doc is right and the mother is perimenopausal, that is *certainly* not a justification for weaning that baby! My family physician noted that I was still 5 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight when my son was 18 months old, and she strongly recommended that I wean him so I could "get rid of that last five pounds" because "breastfeeding isn't really providing any benefit at this point." She said, "Some change is good, you know." I agreed... so I changed doctors. Cee . . | . \ | / '. \ ' / .' '. .'```'. .' .............:::::::`.......`:::::::................ Cecilia Mitchell Miller Certified Bradley Childbirth Educator Certified Birth Doula (DONA) Distributor, Maya Wrap Slings http://www.kjsl.net/~cee Jacksonville, FL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html