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Searching For The Truth About Breastfeeding

Shock! Horror! Famous Person Still Breastfeeding Toddler!

©iStockphoto.com/FrankvandenBergh

by Mary Jessica Hammes
December 21, 2008

Kelly Rutherford, an actress currently starring in the television show Gossip Girl, is still breastfeeding her 2-year-old son—and predictably, anonymous responses online have veered more to the “ew, gross” territory.

Shocking, I know. It’s absolutely appalling that a woman might choose to breastfeed her child according to standards supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends breastfeeding exclusively for six months and then at least up to a year, with “no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding,” and the World Health Organization, which advises “breastfeeding up to two years and beyond.”

How dare she…I don’t know…decrease her child’s risk of developing childhood cancers, chronic bowel diseases, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, diabetes, obesity and asthma—or decrease her own risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer.

The health benefits of breast milk are well-known and documented in numerous studies—and those benefits don’t simply turn off just because a child is growing.

So, when do babies naturally wean themselves? We often hear the age is around 4, but it’s more variable than that, according to Katherine A. Dettwyler, an anthropologist at the University of Delaware, author, lecturer and breastfeeding expert (who, she says at her website, breastfed her daughter until she was 4 years old).

In fact, trying to pinpoint an exact worldwide average might not be a very helpful exercise, suggests Dettwyler.

“It is meaningless, statistically, to speak of an average age of weaning worldwide, as so many children never nurse at all, or their mothers give up in the first few days, or at six weeks when they go back to work,” she writes. “…In societies where children are allowed to nurse ‘as long as they want’ they usually self-wean, with no arguments or emotional trauma, between 3 and 4 years of age.”

As for me, I feel all tingly knowing that at last I share something in common with a celebrity—I, too, still breastfeed a 2-year-old.

Larissa Halsell

I’m sure it is no fun to have your parenting choices ridiculed in the media. Props to the woman for being honest, and straightforward, and contributing to acceptance of nursing older toddlers/children.

I still love nursing my 18 month old, and am currently in denial that others might be bothered by it
Maureen Murray

I breastfed my daughter until she was 4 years old and had to tell her it had to be private, between us, because people wouldn’t understand and American being so European. Contrary to popular belief, feeding our young is the reason why we have breasts! It’s no one’s business that I chose to continue to breastfeed outside US society’s uptight “norm!” I am happy I did what I did and would do it again!
Elyse

I, too, am a firm believer in breastfeeding to a ripe old age.
Cher

I just weaned my 4 year old a few weeks ago. By all accounts he had weaned himself, only nursing to sleep at naptime. He was not upset by the change, but he does talk a lot about my “milkies.” It has been a fabulous experience. I don’t understand why people get so upset at extended breastfeeding. We are encouraged to give our children milk to drink in a cup after they are a year old. Isn’t human milk the very best for our children? Besides, my breasts don’t contain BPA’s or phthalates like many of the containers used for storage or drinking. In addition to the physical benefits of extended breastfeeding, there are emotional and behavioral benefits as well. I think the biggest reason breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding have not made more headway in our society is because of selfishness. Less than 1% of women can’t breastfeed due to physiological reasons. The rest who don’t have decided that their child is not important enough to do so. I know many people think this is too harsh of a view, but I really don’t know how to see it any other way. Why else would a woman make a deliberate choice not to do what is the least expensive, the least work and the very best for her child. The ire should not be aimed at women who breastfeed for an extended period of time. It should be aimed at the women who choose not to breastfeed at all.
Luna

I personally think it is gross!!! Besides it has been scientifically proven that the longer the child is breastfed, the less nutrients he or she gets from it. I breastfed my baby until he was 1 year old. I will do the same with the next ones.
Mary Jessica Hammes

Hi Luna,

Thanks for your comment. I know your child greatly benefited from breastfeeding for the first year of his life.

I invite you to read the following scientific evidence (from cited research studies) that shows that breastmilk continues to provide important nutrition, even to toddlers:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html#nutrition

(A list of references for further reading is here: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-refs.html#nutrition)

I also invite you to read both the World Health Organization’s and American Academy of Pediatrics policy statements on breastfeeding; I think you’ll be interested to learn that both recommend breastfeeding for at least a year and beyond – some WHO language actually suggests two years as an optimum breastfeeding period.