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Subject:
From:
Barbara Latterner <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 3 Mar 2000 10:50:24 EST
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In a message dated 3/2/00 3:00:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Date:    Thu, 2 Mar 2000 10:04:43 -0600
 From:    Lucy Towbin <[log in to unmask]>
 Subject: Potential Research Project about Natural Weaning Time

 Has anyone noticed a difference in personalities among children who wean
 early (under a year) vs. those who wean later (four or over) or those
 in-between?  It would be hard to eliminate confounding variables such as
 family stresses that may have occurred during one child's early years and
 not another's, but I'm just curious whether this might be a project I'd
 want to pursue.  Any comments either on how this could be done or on trends
 you have noticed would be appreciated. I am, of course, referring to child
 led weaning.

 -Lucy Towbin, LCSW, IBCLC

 ------------------------------

Lucy,

This is purely anecdotal and personal opinion, but, I find it difficult to
accept that an infant, under one year, especially, will wean on her own.
What I have often seen or been told when this "natural weaning" occurs is the
use of bottles, a nursing strike that gets interpreted as child's desire to
wean (mom doesn't entice baby back to breast and work on re-establishing
BF-even with a kind of "partial" strike; one that is just a major reduction
in frequncy of BF) or mom unconsciously wants to wean and follows the "don't
offer, don't refuse" method.  it seems to me that if children's natural age
of weaning is three or four, why would weaning occur unless circumstances
(environment, cultural factors, etc.) in those children's lives encourage it
(even inadvertantly).

I'm not judging, I just have seen so many factors, psychologically,
culturally, that cause premature weaning, and the response is, "Oh, he just
weaned himself," and then, when it's appropriate, questions asked  reveal use
of bottles, sippy cups, food, life stressors and on and on that explain the
weaning as not truly "child-led."

This doesn't really answer your question but may be food for thought as
factors to consider should you undertake a study on weaning and personality.
Having weaned my first at ten months, she certainly would have kept
breastfeeding, and breastfed #2 seven years and #3 for six years, I
understand the rationalization moms go thru.  I "pretended" for years that #1
child was ready to wean-intro of bottles due to misunderstanding (on my
part,stupidly) that I couldn't BF and work, too.  As for personality
differences, I find it hard to separate other factors, the impact of
separation from #1, my age and personality,then,  financial restrictions,etc.
from simply the early weaning.

Barbara (who writes this tentatively and with no judgement, just observation)
Brewster, NY  (my past article on separation, written for Mothering some
years ago brought me an unbelievable flurry of anger thus my trepidation.)

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