In fact the World Health Organization recommends that babies be breastfed for a minimum of two years. Children rarely self-wean before 18-24 months. Now I think if you did your best to provide your baby with breastmilk and didn't take away that basic right from your infant you've done an outstanding job. This isn't a post about judgement for those that chose to wean at a year. Kudos! Your baby is probably eating solid food and you won't have to purchase infant formula.
But wean in three months? Um, we just got good at this! The baby isn't drowning on my overactive letdown anymore and I haven't had a clogged duct in ages. He really likes nursing. It's our bonding time. And in the next few months we'll probably even convince the little guy to eat enough solid food that I won't even need to be worried about things like milk supply. We'll just be nursing because we enjoy each other. Yes, there are health benefits to nursing a toddler. But also, in a lot of ways, the pressure is off. And it sure is cute.
You hear people talk babies being "old enough to ask for it" as if that is a bad thing. Why? I can't WAIT for Dylan to say "milkies" or something similar. All my other kids said "baba", after all. Humans are designed biologically to lactate for 2.5-7 years. It's only in western culture that nursing past 12 months is unusual. This cultural bias is even evident in studies done on breastfeeding. For example, why is nursing past the age of 12 months considered "extended breastfeeding" if 2.5-7 years of nursing is biologically normal. Toddlers are picky eaters. If Dylan turns out to be the 2 year old who will only eat chicken nuggets and macaroni, at least my milk will round out his nutrition. And not to mention, milkies are already the perfect cure when his sister knocks him over or he wakes up scared. I can see this tool being even better once he's capable of a real tantrum. I wish his sister knew how to nurse sometimes!
Breastfeeding. I never imagined 9 months ago when we started on this journey that it would turn into a way of mothering. Nursing is a relationship. If you see a mother nursing her toddler, resist the urge to judge. Bite your tongue. Just because you don't see toddlers (or even babies, really) breastfeeding much in today's society doesn't mean that they shouldn't.
