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Subject:
From:
"J. Rachael Hamlet & Duncan L. Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 23 May 1997 15:06:59 -0500
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Re: When breast is no longer best for the loving mother and child (21 May 97)

To the Editor:

I believe that Dr. Stuttaford has done the readers of The Times a grave
disservice by labelling breastfeeding at the age of 3 1/2 "psychologically
damaging."  I challenge the doctor to produce a single piece of scientific
evidence (as opposed to mere opinion) that breastfeeding for several years is
harmful to either children or mothers.  In fact, all of the scientific evidence
is to the contrary: that the benefits of breastfeeding are subject to no
arbitrary cut-off date.

I would invite Dr. Stuttaford to examine my daughter and see whether nursing has
caused her any harm.  On her first day of preschool -- when she was just two
years old -- she separated from me cheerfully, while all of her
non-breastfeeding classmates wept and wailed to see their mothers go.  She has
gladly accepted the care and comfort of her father, her grandparents, and many
of my friends and relatives.  She has never sucked a pacifier or a thumb, and
has never had a "lovey" toy that she depended upon for comfort.  A more
independent-minded child I have yet to meet, yet she is nursing twice a day at
the age of five.

I urge you to present an article in the same space, by a physician or scientist
who has actually studied breastfeeding and knows of the enormous benefits of
nursing for as long as the child wishes.

Rachael Hamlet, J.D.
The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page:
www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html

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