Well, I have a lot to say on this topic, but I'll keep it brief.

(1) We need *something* to call nursing beyond, say, the minimum of a year
that the AAP recommends or the minimum of two years that the WHO recommends.
  "Toddler nursing" is fine for 1-2 years of age, but by 2 you aren't a
toddler any more.  If I am writing an article about my research on children
in the US breastfed longer than 3 years, I can say that whole long sentence,
or I can title it "Extended Breastfeeding" or "Long-Term Breastfeeding" but
if I just title it "Breastfeeding in the US" then people will think it is
about initiation of breastfeeding, or breastfeeding during the first
weeks/months.  So it really doesn't work to just call it "breastfeeding."

(2)  Since the mid-1990s, I've been referring to any weaning prior to 2.5
years as "premature weaning."

(3)  We can't use "child-led weaning" because many children are weaned by
their mothers choice at 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 years of age.  I have one child
myself who was weaned at age 4 years, another who was weaned at 5.5 years --
both my choice, not child-led.

(4)  We can't use "Sustained breastfeeding" because this is the term Ted
Greiner uses to refer to children who breastfeed longer than two years, but
he says that "Sustained breastfeeding is a survival strategy used by
families who are too poor to provide their children with good food."  That's
a paraphrase, but it's the first line of the abstract of his talk at the
Breastfeeding NOW conference I just came back from in Canada.  He also says
that a few 'attachment parenting' families in the West practice "sustained
breastfeeding" as part of AP.  But he doesn't seem to recognize that the
vast majority of the world's children who are breastfed for 2-7 years are
just breastfed for that long because both child and mother want to (because
they are primates), sometimes with cultural support (most families in the
community do it) and sometimes in spite of cultural disapproval.

Kathy Dettwyler


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