This article was first published on The National Times (20/09/2010)
As my daughter approaches 18 months of age, everyone is suddenly interested in the question of my weaning her. It seems that I am about to step over an invisible line where breastfeeding becomes weird, inappropriate and unappealing.
You've got to feel sorry for new mothers. When a baby is born, the pressure to breastfeed is intense. Women who do not, through either choice or necessity, might as well leave their newborns out in the woods for the wolves, such is the scorn heaped upon them by everyone from hospital midwives to sanctimonious friends and family.
But the breastfeeding window is only open for a short period. Choose to do it beyond a certain age and you'll be regarded as strange, selfish and a bit disgusting. By a certain point in time, breasts are expected to be back on the public market, not being monopolised by a selfish child.
A study released last month from the University of Pittsburgh found that mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. The research adds to an already long list of breastfeeding benefits — from the promotion of sensory and cognitive development and protection against infectious and chronic diseases in infants, to lower rates of breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancers, heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease in mothers. Much of the research has also indicated that the protective effects of breastfeeding increase with its duration.
While the World Health Organisation recommends that women breastfeed for up to two years of age or beyond, in Australia it has been reported that only 14 per cent of women were breastfeeding their babies at six months. A Newspoll study in 2009 found that one-third of Australians believe that breastfeeding should stop at six months, with an additional 39 per cent believing it should cease by 12 months. Both in public attitude and in practise, it would seem that Australia is way out of step with the leading advice on public health.
It is difficult to pinpoint why we feel so confronted when we see, or even think of, women breastfeeding older babies or toddlers. There are some who are always going to be unreasonably bothered by the idea of a woman ''whipping out'' a breast in public. Interestingly in the Newspoll study, most people objecting to public breastfeeding were not the old fuddy-duddies you'd expect, but people in the 18-24 year age group.
One of the most common reasons cited by people objecting to sustained breastfeeding seems to revolve around the idea that it is unnatural or creepy if a child is old enough to walk up to its mother and ask for a drink — or, in other words, if they have developed any movement or language skills. Other commonly given concerns include suggestions that the child will become too dependent, an objection that seems particularly strong if the child is a boy, or that the mother is prolonging the practice in order to fulfil her own emotional needs.
At the heart of these thinly veiled criticisms is a fundamental clash between the idea of breasts as objects of lust and ones with an intended biological purpose.
We have no problem allowing images of breasts to be plastered all over TV, billboards and online media. However, many people are horrified at the mere thought of a woman daring to use them publicly, or even in the privacy of her own home, to feed a two-year-old. For many, there seems to be an irrational concern that if we encourage all this breastfeeding business too much, the sexual potency of breasts everywhere will be somehow diminished.
It's worth remembering that breastfeeding doesn't always come easily. Please, can we not make it any more difficult for women by vocally, and sometimes viciously, attacking their choices about if, where, when and for how long they choose to do it.
For the record, I don't plan on weaning my daughter just yet. I feel fortunate to be in a situation where I can still feed her and will continue to do so while it remains convenient, cheap and provides us both with unparalleled health benefits. I can't see anything unnatural or creepy about that.
Original article at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/contributors/breast-is-best--for-longer-than-you-may-think-20100917-15fcs.html
