Karleen and Heather
Thanks for your comments. Heather, you were right in all that you
said. I'm really so disappointed in this article. Because I know
how ghastly the UK press can be about this sort of thing I asked the
journalist to email me her questions, and said I'd be happy to email
my responses back. I didn't want to be misquoted. But even though
she had only to cut & paste my response, it was clearly too hard
:'( Anyway, here is my full response pasted below.
Pamela (who keeps trying, but who never seems to learn ....)
-----------------
>Hi Beth
>
>Thank you for your calls and for your email. I hope your story in
>the Daily Mail will serve to provide some accurate information to
>the general public about why some young children breastfeed longer
>than most people would consider usual, and why their mothers are
>happy to respond to them.
>
>My responses are interspersed with your questions below.
>
>At 15:21 07/12/2010, you wrote:
>>Hi Pamela,
>>Thanks for agreeing to help. As I said on the phone, I've
>>interviewed a mo= ther who is breastfeeding her six-year-old son
>>and his five-month-old brot= her and she has spoken very honestly
>>about her reasons for doing so and ho= w she is aware that some
>>people may find it strange.
>
>How lovely that this mother is doing this.
>
>
>>Her son only breastfeeds on occasional mornings.
>
>Child-led weaning (breastfeeding for as long as the young child
>indicates the need) happens very slowly. A baby who is
>breastfeeding 10 - 20 times a day in the early months turns into a
>toddler who breastfeeds far less often, and a young child who may
>only breastfeed very occasionally, so a little six-year-old who
>breastfeeds only on occasional mornings would seem quite normal to me.
>
>
>>What I want to do is get a spectrum of expert views on
>>breastfeeding a chi= ld of this age. Is it right, is it wrong, is
>>there no right or wrong?
>
>The "right" time for a young child to stop breastfeeding is when he
>no longer asks to breastfeed. The only "wrong" would be to deprive
>a young child of breastfeeding if he indicated that he still needed
>to breastfeed, for food or comfort, and the mother failed to respond
>to that need.
>
>
>>Are there still benefits at this age?
>
>Yes, most definitely! There are three important aspects of
>breastfeeding to both the mother and her child of any age: for the
>baby or young child, there is optimal nutrition, immunological
>protection and emotional comfort at the breast; for the mother
>there is the satisfaction in being able meet her child's needs
>anywhere, any time, especially in times of uncertainty or if the
>child becomes sick or hurt; and there are also health advantages
>for the mother, eg a real degree of protection from breast and
>ovarian cancer, less likelihood of diabetes and osteoporosis and
>even heart disease in later life, and less risk of emotional
>depression. It is often not appreciated just how important
>continued breastfeeding can be to the young child. On average,
>breastfed babies of 6-8 months obtain around 70% of their energy
>needs from breastmilk, this falls to around 55% at 9-11 months, and
>40% at 12-23 months.
>
>In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
>o 29% of energy requirements
>o 43% of protein requirements
>o 36% of calcium requirements
>o 75% of vitamin A requirements
>o 76% of folate requirements
>o 94% of vitamin B12 requirements
>o 60% of vitamin C requirements
>
>The health advantages of maintaining some breastfeeding during very
>early childhood are huge. Once a young child is taking a fair
>quantity of other foods, the volume of breastmilk declines, but the
>quantity of immunological components of the milk becomes more
>condensed. This means that an older child who is not breastfeeding
>very often is receiving a milk which is similar to colostrum in
>terms of protection from common childhood infections and allergies,
>eg, asthma and eczema. Even 50 ml of breastmilk in each 24 hours
>will keep him healthier than if he has completely weaned. During
>times of sickness, a small breastmilk supply will increase with the
>more frequent breastfeeding that a sick toddler/young child usually
>asks for. From an emotional standpoint, the joy and delight that an
>older nursing child and his mother continue to take in each other is
>something that needs to be more widely known, and mothers who are
>persuaded to wean their babies too early miss out on this truly
>wonderful experience. Furthermore, far from being clingy, the
>young child whose mother continues to welcome him at the breast is
>often extremely sociable, independent and confident. Eventually all
>long-term breastfeeding children do wean, and it's important to
>stress that it's not possible to make a child breastfeed beyond the
>time that he himself wants to continue.
>
>
>>How common is it?
>
>Unfortunately, child-led weaning is not very common in UK, but in a
>society which appears to frown on breastfeeding older children it
>may be more widely practised than is generally believed. Mothers of
>older children often become "closet-nursers", ie they don't
>breastfeed older children in public places, although they will often
>be happy to breastfeed their older children when spending time with
>their families and with like-minded friends. The mother-support
>groups often provide a safe and friendly space for mothers of older
>breastfeeding children, as well as affirmation that what they are
>doing is healthy and normal.
>
>>Why is it that a lot of people find it strange?
>
>The strangeness of nursing an older child, or indeed tandem-nursing
>(breastfeeding an older baby/child and a younger baby at the same
>time) needs to be seen against a background of particularly low
>breastfeeding rates in the UK; something which the Department of
>Health is seeking to rectify. The World Health Organization
>recommends that all babies (not just those in developing countries)
>should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life and
>that after this time partial breastfeeding should continue, with the
>addition of complementary foods, for "up to two years or
>beyond". In a highly respected 1995 text entitled Breastfeeding:
>Biocultural Perspectives, edited by Patricia Stuart-Macadam and
>Katherine Dettwyler, published by Aldine de Gruyter, New York, the
>consensus of opinion is that normal weaning age for the human
>infant/young child is somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years. Yet a May
>2009 GMTV survey ( http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=34777) found
>that only 30% of British mothers breastfed up to the age of 6
>months, so that even breastfeeding a five-month-old is somewhat
>unusual, and child-led weaning is more unusual
>still. Breastfeeding a six-year old may seem pretty rare, and thus
>strange, to those outside the breastfeeding support groups or
>outside the lactation field. However, I've worked with many, many
>mothers who have done this and I would support them all the way.
>
>
>>Thank you very much for your time and help, Beth
>>
>>0207 938 6179
>
>You're welcome. I hope the above is the kind of thing you were
>looking for. If you have more questions or need more references,
>just let me know. As mentioned, I'd really appreciate you sending
>me the link to the finished article, once it's written and published.
>
>Best wishes with your article and thank you for lending your support
>to this important topic! By the way, I wonder if you've seen the
>recently published report about MP Frank Field's initiative to
>improve the life chances of children in poverty,
>see http://povertyreview.independent.gov.uk/ Mr Field (a
>Labour MP) was commissioned by David Cameron to look into this - it
>makes fascinating reading, and increased breastfeeding support would
>tie in with the goals of this ambitious initiative!
>
>Warm regards
>
>Pamela
>
>Pamela Morrison
>International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
>3 Barnsite Close
>Rustington
>West Sussex
>BN16 3QH
>Tel: 01903-783431
>Email: [log in to unmask]
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