Whats so good about BF a toddler.....?

[Lollie86]

Okay so I'm still BF my 21 mth old DD bc she just doesnt seem to want to wean. I dont have a prob with it at all but I just dont know whats so good about it.

That might sound a bit naive, so I'll try and explain. I know that BF a child for their first year of life gives them a great start and is really good for them but after 12 mths when they start having more dairy why is BF still good for them?

I get asked constantly why Im still doing it and that DD isnt getting anything out of it and all I say Im letting her bc she wants to. I dont actually know why its good for her.

If anyone can help out with some info, i'd really appreciate it.

[Areca]

Here you go

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html


Nursing toddlers benefit NUTRITIONALLY

* Although there has been little research done on children who breastfeed beyond the age of two, the available information indicates that breastfeeding continues to be a valuable source of nutrition and disease protection for as long as breastfeeding continues.

* "Human milk expressed by mothers who have been lactating for >1 year has significantly increased fat and energy contents, compared with milk expressed by women who have been lactating for shorter periods. During prolonged lactation, the fat energy contribution of breast milk to the infant diet might be significant."
-- Mandel 2005

* "Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins."
-- Dewey 2001

* 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
-- Dewey 2001

* Studies done in rural Bangladesh have shown that breastmilk continues to be an important source of vitamin A in the second and third year of life.
-- Persson 1998

* It's not uncommon for weaning to be recommended for toddlers who are eating few solids. However, this recommendation is not supported by research. According to Sally Kneidel in "Nursing Beyond One Year" (New Beginnings, Vol. 6 No. 4, July-August 1990, pp. 99-103.):

Some doctors may feel that nursing will interfere with a child's appetite for other foods. Yet there has been no documentation that nursing children are more likely than weaned children to refuse supplementary foods. In fact, most researchers in Third World countries, where a malnourished toddler's appetite may be of critical importance, recommend continued nursing for even the severely malnourished (Briend et al, 1988; Rhode, 1988; Shattock and Stephens, 1975; Whitehead, 1985). Most suggest helping the malnourished older nursing child not by weaning but by supplementing the mother's diet to improve the nutritional quality of her milk (Ahn and MacLean. 1980; Jelliffe and Jelliffe, 1978) and by offering the child more varied and more palatable foods to improve his or her appetite (Rohde, 1988; Tangermann, 1988; Underwood, 1985).


Nursing toddlers are SICK LESS OFTEN

* The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that children weaned before two years of age are at increased risk of illness (AAFP 2001).

* Nursing toddlers between the ages of 16 and 30 months have been found to have fewer illnesses and illnesses of shorter duration than their non-nursing peers (Gulick 1986).

* "Antibodies are abundant in human milk throughout lactation" (Nutrition During Lactation 1991; p. 134). In fact, some of the immune factors in breastmilk increase in concentration during the second year and also during the weaning process. (Goldman 1983, Goldman & Goldblum 1983, Institute of Medicine 1991).

* Per the World Health Organization, "a modest increase in breastfeeding rates could prevent up to 10% of all deaths of children under five: Breastfeeding plays an essential and sometimes underestimated role in the treatment and prevention of childhood illness." [emphasis added]


Nursing toddlers have FEWER ALLERGIES

* Many studies have shown that one of the best ways to prevent allergies and asthma is to breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months and continue breastfeeding long-term after that point.

Breastfeeding can be helpful for preventing allergy by:
1. reducing exposure to potential allergens (the later baby is exposed, the less likely that there will be an allergic reaction),
2. speeding maturation of the protective intestinal barrier in baby's gut,
3. coating the gut and providing a barrier to potentially allergenic molecules,
4. providing anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the risk of infections (which can act as allergy triggers).


Nursing toddlers are SMART

* Extensive research on the relationship between cognitive achievement (IQ scores, grades in school) and breastfeeding has shown the greatest gains for those children breastfed the longest.

Nursing toddlers are WELL ADJUSTED SOCIALLY

* According to Sally Kneidel in "Nursing Beyond One Year" (New Beginnings, Vol. 6 No. 4, July-August 1990, pp. 99-103.):

"Research reports on the psychological aspects of nursing are scarce. One study that dealt specifically with babies nursed longer than a year showed a significant link between the duration of nursing and mothers' and teachers' ratings of social adjustment in six- to eight-year-old children (Ferguson et al, 1987). In the words of the researchers, 'There are statistically significant tendencies for conduct disorder scores to decline with increasing duration of breastfeeding.'"

* According to Elizabeth N. Baldwin, Esq. in "Extended Breastfeeding and the Law":
"Breastfeeding is a warm and loving way to meet the needs of toddlers and young children. It not only perks them up and energizes them; it also soothes the frustrations, bumps and bruises, and daily stresses of early childhood. In addition, nursing past infancy helps little ones make a gradual transition to childhood."

* Baldwin continues: "Meeting a child's dependency needs is the key to helping that child achieve independence. And children outgrow these needs according to their own unique timetable." Children who achieve independence at their own pace are more secure in that independence then children forced into independence prematurely.


Nursing a toddler is NORMAL

* The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child... Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother... There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer." (AAP 2005)

* The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that breastfeeding continue throughout the first year of life and that "Breastfeeding beyond the first year offers considerable benefits to both mother and child, and should continue as long as mutually desired." They also note that "If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned." (AAFP 2001)

* A US Surgeon General has stated that it is a lucky baby who continues to nurse until age two. (Novello 1990)

* The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of nursing up to two years of age or beyond (WHO 1992, WHO 2002).

* Scientific research by Katherine A. Dettwyler, PhD shows that 2.5 to 7.0 years of nursing is what our children have been designed to expect (Dettwyler 1995).

[M&Ms]

Thanks for posting all that DoubleAce, I found it a very interesting and reassuring read!!

[only1mica]

* 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
-- Dewey 2001

love that info! THANKS!!!

[~Emmylou~]

Aside from what everyone has posted one of my big plusses for continuing to breastfeed at two - he's NEVER sick.

I know this isn't the case for all breastfed toddlers but compared to my daughter who was formula fed from 3 months, there's been such a difference.

Both have been in daycare since the same age, DS has never had anything except a couple of runny noses that have lasted a day or two. Never had a fever, a viral infection, diarrhea or gastro issues, vomiting bugs....just never gets them.

If he'd been my first baby I may not have noticed, but DD got every lurgey going for her first two years (healthy as a horse now...) and the difference has been remarkable.

[Hollywood]

You've already been given a lot of good advice, but here's even more.

Apart from the nutritionaly benefit, for myself and DS I find BFing an incredibly convenient and comforting thing. If he hurts himself or is upset, as soon as he latches on he becomes instantly calm, and I can see by the look in his eyes that he's in heaven when BFing.

Anyway, don't let anyone tell you that there's no benefit with BFing a toddler, it's simply not true.

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/toddler.html

Breastfeeding your toddler can provide:

• 31% of his daily energy needs,
• 38% of protein requirements,
• 45% of Vitamin A requirements, and
• 95% of Vitamin C needs.

Source: WHO/CDR/93.4

Breastfeeding a toddler

Barbara Glare, partner of Chris, mother of Zac, Dan and Cassie and ABA counsellor


One of the first Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA - then NMAA) meetings I attended with my new baby was on the topic 'Breastfeeding the older baby'. Well, having lived through cracked nipples and a wakeful unsettled baby in the early days, and already giving complementary feeds, I doubted I would ever experience feeding an older baby. An older baby, I assumed, probably meant a baby over six months of age. Coming from a family where breastfeeding was uncommon, I assumed that breastfeeding was only for babies, if it could be achieved at all. I was completely floored when another mother there that evening was talking about feeding her almost four-year-old. I had never heard of such a thing before, and frankly, I was shocked. I didn't say anything, but remember thinking, in an attempt to be open-minded, 'That's great for her, but I would NEVER do that'.

But as the months passed, breastfeeding became easier. With more support and information I was able to wean my baby off infant formula and back onto breastmilk. As his first birthday came and went he was happy, and breastfeeding was easy. I was more confident. He showed no inclination to stop, and my half-hearted attempts to comply with the pressure from my mothers' group, friends and family were met with firm resistance from my son. I continued, past his second birthday, through my pregnancy with my second child, until, just after his fourth birthday he decided he'd had enough, and weaned.

In truth, it was a relief when Zac weaned. I knew in my heart that I was doing the right thing for us, but it was such unchartered territory. It was hard to be sure. I look back and laugh about some of the old wives' tales I was told. 'There's no goodness in your milk after 12 months,' my friend told me. Others told me 'He's filling up on your milk, that's why he doesn't eat much.' The irony was that a couple of friends who dutifully weaned at 12 months believed they needed to give their children toddler formula to compensate for their children's picky eating. Dire predictions were made about the effect of continued breastfeeding on his emotional development. A friend sowed the seeds of self-doubt by suggesting that I was doing it 'for myself' rather than for my baby. Some days it was hard to keep up my confidence. I became a closet feeder, training Zac not to ask for a breastfeed in public or at his aunty's house.

But the truth is that it's entirely normal and natural to breastfeed an older child. In Australia, 21.2% of children are still breastfeeding at 12 months (Donath and Amir, 2000). The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that the world average for breastfeeding is 4.2 years. WHO recommends that children be breastfed for at least two years. Anthropologist, Katherine Dettwyler estimated the natural age of weaning to be between two and a half and seven years, based on developmental factors and comparisons with other mammals.

The nutritional benefits of breastfeeding in the first year of life are well-documented. It seems illogical that these would all cease after 12 months. What better source of nutrition could you give your toddler? A cheeseburger? Many a mother of a sick child has blessed the fact that she could still give him something he could keep down, and a way of soothing the discomfort.

Lisa, mother of three, says, 'Breastfeeding is the most powerful tool a mother of a toddler has. With a few quick sucks you can soothe a sore knee or a tantrum, or get an overtired child off to sleep in minutes. We'd be mad to give it up too quickly.' The emotional benefits of breastfeeding are often cited by mothers as a reason to continue to breastfeed their older children. Many people feel that breastfeeding past a certain age will make children overly dependent, but research suggests that the opposite will be true - children who form a secure attachment with their mother are more easily able to form attachments with others, and become more independent.

Director of the Lactation Resource Centre, Kate Mortensen says, 'Benefits of sustained breastfeeding are not only for the child. Mothers benefit too. Mothers who breastfeed longer have a lower risk of anaemia, reduced risk of osteoporosis, a lower risk of breast cancer, and often a sense of personal achievement.' Many mothers who breastfeed their older child secretly admit to other benefits - 'I couldn't bear to get up when Sam woke at 6:30 on those cold winter mornings. By breastfeeding we could stay cuddled up together in our big, warm bed for another half hour or so. It was a lovely way to start the day for both of us,' says Maria, mother of Sam, three.

Children wean at many varied ages and stages and if you've breastfed, even for a short time, you can be sure you've given the best possible start. However, if you find that your child has celebrated several birthdays and is still no closer to weaning, you can say with confidence 'Yes, we're still doing that and it's still good for both of us!'

Further Reading

Mortensen, K. Sustained Breastfeeding 'Hot Topics' Lactation Resource Centre, East Malvern 2001
Bumgarner, NJ 2000, Mothering Your Nursing Toddler (3rd ed) La Leche League International, Illinois
Australian Breastfeeding Association 1998 Breastfeeding Through Pregnancy and Beyond Australian Breastfeeding Association, East Malvern
Australian Breastfeeding Association 1998 Weaning Australian Breastfeeding Association, East Malvern.

[gentlemama]

Human milk is still the most nutritious thing you can feed a child at any age, and it still has immune benefits too. The thing I loved about breastfeeding my toddler was it really helped with our bonding in the difficult toddler years. 2 -3 was such an intense period and breastfeeding was our saviour! He had such intense feelings and such a huge need for comfort, and when I would find myself getting annoyed with him, it was such a good reminder to me that he was still just a small person and needed a lot of mothering. I truly loved every moment of our breastfeeding career which went for 3+ years. I still miss it!

[workin'mumof2]

thanks for the info..

well done lollie86 for breastfeeding so long

[Lipsmacker01]

Ditto on the my girls never been sick part...its true my girl is 17 months now and has only ever had one sniffle! touch wood. Shes still breastfed and sometimes I wonder why I still breastfeed too. At this stage Im almost thinking its time to wean her off but I really do love the bond we share. I know for us it will happen soon as we are going to TTC #2 - not that I think we will have any issues with bf whilst Im pregnant just that I think the time is right for me.

Im so glad that I persevered with breastfeeding as there were so many times I questioned my supply.

Congratulations for sticking with it for this long, Im sure you've given them the best start.

[Lollie86]

Thanks for all the info ladies! It was an interesting read.

Breastfeeding your toddler can provide:

• 31% of his daily energy needs,
• 38% of protein requirements,
• 45% of Vitamin A requirements, and
• 95% of Vitamin C needs.

I seriously had no idea on how good it actually is for toddlers.