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BREASTFEEDING BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR (Part 2/3)

Post Date: 27 Oct 09 Category: Parenting & Children
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BREASTFEEDING BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR (Part 2/3)
It may pose a unique set of challenges, but overcoming them provides dividends for your baby, writes a mother who shares her experience

By Anita Daubars | Reprinted with permission from Today’s Parents Magazine

Click here to read Part 1 and more photos

NURSING STRIKES
Another issue nursing mums face are nursing strikes. Features of a Nursing Strike: When the nursling refuses to breastfeed without apparent reason. This can occur at any age, lasting from two to four days although a mother in this situation might wonder if the refusal to nurse is a sign of her baby’s readiness to stop breastfeeding.

A baby who is ready to wean will usually be over a year old, will be consuming other food and drink well and will cease nursing gradually, dropping off one breastfeed at a time.

A baby on a nursing strike may not be consuming other foods well and his refusal to nurse will be sudden and upsetting for him.

The mother can figure out the causes of baby’s sudden refusal to nurse by asking: does the baby have an illness or injury that could be interfering with nursing? Has there been a change in the baby’s life?

To get baby back to nursing as before, mothers can try nursing when the baby is very sleepy and by giving him or her lots of quiet, affection, and skin-to-skin contact.

HEALTH CONCERNS
Many nursing mothers are concerned about their nursling’s nutritional needs. Breast milk, being species specific and nutritionally superior, forms an invaluable part of a toddler’s diet that includes varied complementary foods.

Breast milk contains nutrients for baby’s growth as well as immune factors such as antibodies, growth factors, digestive enzymes and hormones.

Once complementary foods have been introduced at around six months of age, the other benefits of breast milk continue.

As such, breastfed toddlers tend to fall sick less often than their nonbreastfed peers and illnesses tend to have a shorter duration.

Nursing toddlers generally have: fewer ear infections; fewer respiratory infections; better digestion with fewer intestinal infections and less constipation; heart health; protection against allergies; less exposure to potential allergens also reduces the baby’s risk of infections, which may trigger allergies; and an intellectual advantage.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Mothers sometimes wonder if breastfeeding into toddler hood would cause baby to be clingy as a toddler. However, being clingy towards his primary caregiver at certain times is typical of almost any toddler, regardless of whether he is breastfeeding.

Pediatrician Dr William Sears believes that children who are allowed to breastfeed for as long as they need have a less anxious attachment to caregivers.

Click here for next Part 3

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