>In my teacher's quarterly this time, the writer stated that "three years of
age was the customary time for weaning since the ancients lacked ways to
keep milk sweet."

I think there was recently some discussion about this (Samuel, specifically)
on LactNet, but can't remember precisely.

It is common that people who don't understand the physiological/biological
normality of nursing for many years (or carrying your baby all the time,
etc.) as well as the cultural context of such, will make "excuses" for "the
ancients" or "the primitives" or "the savages" to explain why they do what
they do.

Where was it I read just the other day (on LactNet??) about people who HAVE
TO carry their babies all the time because it would be *dangerous* to put
them down.  It's probably more dangerous in the US than it is for the !Kung
in the Kalahari desert.

Any time some cultural group does something differently than "we"
(Americans) do, it must be because they HAVE TO, or have no choice --
because obviously, if they could, they would be just like us, right?

I've seen nursing for several years explained as "They don't have proper
weaning foods," "The adult diet is too spicy for infants and toddlers, so
they have to exclusively breastfeed for several years" (no one does this,
folks), "They don't have access to domestic animals for milking" and now
"They lacked ways to keep milk sweet."

Of course, all of this is nonsense.  People nurse their children for many
years because this is normal and healthy and part of our primate heritage,
and their culture supports it.  Most people around the world don't drink the
milk of other species -- cows' milk is not a necessary part of anyone's
diet, and makes the majority of adult humans ill.  In cultures where
children nurse til they are 3-4-5-6, they also eat solid foods starting
sometime in the last half of the first year.  And they eat spicy foods
without any problems!  People hold their babies because they are primates,
and primate mothers and babies are supposed to be together, and their
culture supports this.

And even if the ancients didn't have any way to "keep milk sweet" -- they
certainly knew about making cheese and yogurt and other processed milk
products that would have allowed them to give toddlers cows' milk.  Many of
these processes use bacteria to break down the milk sugar lactose, to
compensate for the adults' lack of lactase, so that adults can continue to
utilize cows' milk products for food even though they can't drink "sweet"
milk.

To turn it around -- "People in the US don't nurse their babies very long
and don't hold their babies very much because they live in a culture that
disapproves of normal durations of breastfeeding and normal mother-baby
interaction."  I think it is very important that you write to whoever
produced this material and explained that they are perpetuating bad
information about why people nurse their children for several years, and
that today's youngsters need to know that 3 years of nursing or more is
perfectly normal and healthy.

Sigh.

Kathy Dettwyler

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