Saturday, June 15, 2013

Infant-led weaning? The when and the why...

While in touch with my old school mates over our impending 50-year reunion, I exchanged an email with lo-and-behold, another mother who defied the odds and let her daughter wean in her own time. Nothing like birds of a feather flocking together...

Then later that day a Mercola article and advice from a “Darwinian dentist” who explains how a child’s teeth and palate develop optimally, without occlusion when the child is exclusively breastfed for at least six months, then introduced to pre-masticated food (in lieu of processed baby foods) prior to finger foods of the whole, unrefined, organic variety. Breastfeeding should continue until the child decides he’s had enough. When might that be you ask? Anthropologists validate what the West perversely terms “prolonged” with the breastfeeding period for all species of primates equivalent to six times (x6) the period of gestation. That means 54 months = 4.5 years for humans! 

Or you can simply ask another sort of expert - and only three year olds need apply. More on the subject in Healthy Parents, Healthy Toddler.

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