>To expect mothers to exclusively BF for 3-5 years is unrealistic.

Not to mention impossible.  You cannot keep a child alive by "exclusive"
breastfeeding for 3-5 years, nor can you possibly keep a normal healthy
child away from food once they get to be 6-12-18 months old.  This was
probably just a typo.

I think that we need all sorts of strategies for changing society.  We need
LLL, even though they encourage moms to nurse discreetly and warn leaders
not to tell new mothers that some people nurse their kids til kindergarten.
We also need people like me, who do research and discover that 3-5-7 years
of breastfeeding is perfectly normal and healthy, and what the kids have
evolved to expect.  We need people who nurse wherever and whenever -- I
nursed my first all over the place, til she was 4 years old.  It never
occurred to me to be particularly discreet or to care what others thought
about my nursing my child.

And for every mother who is horrified by a nursing toddler, there will be
another mother who is encouraged and emboldened to continue breastfeeding in
the face of opposition from others.

Some people are encouraged by gentle education, others by being shocked to
their core.  We need all approaches, all voices, all efforts in our quest to
make this a breastfeeding culture once again.

Kathy Dettwyler

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