While many accredited and influential organizations--like the World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Centers for Disease Control--support breastfeeding for a minimum of one to two years, and thereafter as long as is mutually desired, popular culture still treats extended breastfeeding with stigma. This is especially the case when extended breastfeeding is "extreme" and goes beyond two to three years.
Breastfeeding mothers may be confused and flustered by pressure from outside groups to wean prematurely, especially with so many misinformed sources claiming that extended breastfeeding is "unnatural". Lactating moms might find themselves scratching their heads, wondering just what the natural age of weaning from the breast actually is. To find the answer, "lactivists" should look to the example set by other mammals.
Katherine A. Dettwyler, a scientist with Texas A&M University, made conclusions about the natural age of weaning as follows:
Natural Weaning Age by Dental Eruption: 5.5 - 6 years
Most primates wean their young when the first permanent molars begin erupting. Some scientists have suggested that this is because a child's immune system reaches maturity at about this same time; a possible indicator that full immune protection was in breastmilk until fairly recently in our species' evolutionary history. Although children at this age receive little immune protection from breastmilk because of changes in our biology, some advocates of extended breastfeeding feel that this is still an emotionally natural weaning age.
Natural Weaning Age by Adult Weight: 4 - 7 years
In the natural world, many animals wean their young when the offspring reach approximately one third of their adult body weight. In humans, this time comes anywhere between four and seven years of age-- possibly sooner and possibly later. By this method of natural weaning, boys would be breastfed longer than girls owing to slowed growth after the toddler years for boys-- although, by other methods of determining natural weaning age, girls would be breastfed longer.
Natural Weaning Age by Gestation Length: 4.5 years
In large-bodied mammals, the duration of nursing is high compared to the length of gestation. Large primates like bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans-- humankind's closest relatives-- breastfeed their young for an average of six times the length of gestation. With the average gestation length in humans reaching 40 weeks, this places the natural weaning age at about four and a half years. It is interesting to note that animals with larger brains tend to nurse their young the longest, relative to the length of gestation.
Natural Weaning Age by Adult Body Size: 2.8 -3.7 years
Continuing to compare the human gestational length to other large primates, we might notice that gorillas and chimpanzees happen to reach one third of their adult size at around the time that they are weaned-- also the time when they reach six times their gestation length and begin to get permanent molars. All humans are different from one another, but most children will reach one third of their adult size between 2.8 and 3.7 years.
Natural Weaning Age by Birth Weight: 25 - 32 months
Small mammals tend to wean their young when the offspring have tripled their birth weight, although larger mammals, including intelligent primates, will more likely breastfeed until the young have attained four times the average birth weight. This calculation still presents a natural weaning age that is significantly longer than the "normal" accepted weaning age in Western culture. A conservative age estimate compared to some others, this rule of thumb indicates that weaning should begin no earlier than 25 months in humans.
Even by our most conservative standards for comparing ourselves to our relatives in the animal kingdom, no scientific data has indicated that human beings were ever intended to nurse for any less than two years. While new studies of extended breastfeeding hit news headlines almost daily, our culture still shuns those who wean naturally and treat natural-weaning families as freak show attractions.
A woman who breastfeeds her four-year-old is still called "unnatural" or "crazy" by mainstream culture. Meanwhile, a woman feeding artificial formula to her newborn through a cold rubber teat is accepted as the norm. Given the risks of formula feeding and the proven benefits of extended breastfeeding, we might ask ourselves: who here is behaving unnaturally?
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