Kathy D. says:
<I have to disagree with the "Mile by Mile" person.  I think in order to
get
people nursing the minimum of one year recommended by the AAP and AAFP or
the minimum of two years recommended by the World Health Organization, we
have to get them thinking in terms of that being something doable.  When
Karen G. talks about 7 year olds nursing in Australia, and I talk about 9
year olds nursing in the US, you do of course get gasps and some "tsk
tsks"
even, but you also get people who say "Gee, knowing that some kids nurse
that long makes two or three years seem like a short time!"  That's what
we
want . . . to get people to understand that of course everyone thinks it
is
normal to nurse your child until they are two or three or four years of
age,
and why would anyone in their right mind wean before age two, knowing the
health risks.

Bottom line for me is -- empower people to make the decisions that are
right
for them by giving them the complete and unvarnished truth -- that babies
should nurse for several years -- and then give them the support they
need
in order to achieve this.

Any breastfeding is better than none, and six months is much better than
six
weeks.  But until we all accept that several years of breastfeeding is
every
child's birthright, we'll have people continuing to think that they've
been
a great success when they nurse for six weeks, and have done something
truly
amazing when they nurse for a year.

Around the world, and throughout world history, women have nursed
children
for several years, while also raising the crops, herding and milking the
animals, washing the clothes at the river, etc. etc. etc.  It isn't such
a
huge thing to ask someone who has hot running water and electricity and a
car and enough food to eat and a roof over their heads and no one
shooting
at them - to breastfeed for several years.>

May we quote you on that? I think edited parts of that (without the
internal names and LN references) would make a great handout to have
available at a breastfeeding class! Especially at WIC, where I find the
idea still very "unthinkable" to many moms and their support persons. I
so wish I had known that with my own children!

Jean
************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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