This word is poorly defined in English. It comes from an old Scandinavian
word, "wenian" which means "to accustom." Unfortunately, this is ambiguous:
"Accustom to what?" one might ask. In Swedish, at least, two prefixes
exist, which presumably have been lost in English. These can be used to
indicate whether the speaker means "wean onto" or "wean away from." In
English, "wean" is commonly used in four different ways: introduction of
tastes of other foods, complementation of breast milk, replacement of
breast milk and cessation of breastfeeding (some authors now use the French
"sevrage" for this, but it implies a rapid cessation). To complicate
matters, "wean" is also used for bottle fed babies.

I have discussed all this and illustrate it with a graph in an article
entitled "Sustained breastfeeding, complementation and care" which will
appear in the September, 1995 issue of Food and Nutrition Bulletin put out
by the United Nations University. In various presentations over the years I
have argued that, because of this confusion, we should simply stop using
the word "wean" and say more exactly what we mean instead. I am pleased to
note during the past couple years that the World Health Organization seems
to have done just that. Perhaps ILCA sould discuss it.
Ted Greiner, PhD
Senior Lecturer in International Nutrition
Uppsala University
75185 Uppsala
Sweden

phone +46 - 18 511598
fax   +46 - 18 515380

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