"Tomb honors god king's nurse."  Article in our St. Paul Minnesota paper
describing archeologists' announcement of a 1330 BC memorial to Maya -
hieroglyphics pay tribute to a woman ( mother, wet nurse??) "who fed the body
of a god" (Tutenkhamen).  The tomb also had a relief depicting her with breast
and nipple exposed, as the article put it.  The devotion of an entire tomb to
a woman apparently occurs "extremely" rarely in Ancient Egypt.

Seems that whoever Maya was, King Tut remembers nursing with her!  In honour
of Maya, I want to continue the thread of boys, breastfeeding and extended
nursing:

Why do boys suffer greater rates of illness, malnutrition, etc...Is it just
part of this overall "vulnerability" of males that they also have more
difficulty learning breastfeeding?  What is the story with cultures that don't
circumcise at birth?  In any event, if boys do have more difficulty initiating
breastfeeding, then it stands to reason that more boys than girls would then
suffer the consequences of premature weaning by developing all the diseases we
see associated with a lack of human milk in the early months.  With traumas,
one would have to speculate about the consequences of the disruption of the
mother-infant relationship that is potential in early weaning.  Unless there
are studies???

Sheila Humphrey B.Sc.(Botany) RN IBCLC
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota