Extended Breastfeeding

In this video, four doctors and a studio audience debate whether or not breastfeeding toddlers and kids is still beneficial. One mother says that she still breastfeeds her two year old son and believes that it is "normal" to continue until he is seven years old. She tells the people who disagree with her that the problem with America is that we see breast as almost exclusively sexual instead of their real purpose which is to nurish. Most of the doctors agree with her and say that breast milk's benefits don't stop working when the child is a certain age. One doctor also states that for the world as a whole, the average age that women stop nursing is four. However, the female doctor strongly disagrees and says that if you breastfeed past one year, it is only benefiting the woman's needs and not the child's. She advices the mother to stop nursing so her child can become independent.

I thought that this video brought up alot of debateable issues which made it interesting. However, I fully agree with the female doctor that nursing after one year of age is unproductive. From none of my other research have I found anything that says there are health benefits past this age. I also agree that the child needs seperation from his mother at this age...and especially before he is 7! At this point, the kid is old enough to take a vitamin if she is concerned about his health and they can go to Disney World to bond and have mother-child time.