Hear, hear. And playing with some slightly different numbers: I've led a monthly "Extended" Nursing mothers' discussion group since Jan 1993 and have seen many mothers nurse individual children 3, 6, 9+ years, sometimes in tandem with a sibling. Anecdotally, many of these mothers are "older," children are often spaced further apart, a first or last child is often welcomed in a mother's 40s. The issue of early menopause would certainly have raised its curious head by now if there were some sort of pattern. I suspect, as Margaret suggests in another post, that something different is up with this mom & the breastfeeding is indeed a red herring. Too bad nursing is so unusual that it often draws attention first (though the question of hormone levels is of interest in this case). Susan Johnson MFA, IBCLC Salt Lake City, Utah USA <<I'm with Jen on this one - anecdotal evidence would lead you to the opposite conclusion than this doctor's (that prolonged nursing could lead to premature menopause). I know many, many women who have had 6-16 babies and have nursed for years (and decades) with very few cycles. Many of them are now in their forties and still having babies - myself included. I think if prolonged nursing *caused* premature menopause it would certainly be evident in this population. Melanie Young IBCLC, LLLL >> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html