By MONIQUE KOERNER
Cottonwood Extension District
As we continue to recognize August as National Breastfeeding Month, I wanted to share more articles focused on breastfeeding and highlight some of the key topics and challenges commonly discussed in the field of lactation.
From access to lactation support to the social and cultural perceptions of breastfeeding, there’s a wide range of important conversations happening. By exploring these issues, we hope to raise awareness, provide support, and empower families in their infant feeding journeys.
In today’s modern parenting culture, breastfeeding beyond infancy often sparks debate—drawing praise, curiosity, and criticism in equal measure.
Known as full-term breastfeeding or natural-term breastfeeding, this practice refers to nursing a child beyond the first year of life, often continuing until the child weans naturally, sometimes at age three, four, or even older.
While it may seem unconventional in some societies, anthropology and biology tell a different story—one that suggests full-term breastfeeding is deeply rooted in human history and may offer real benefits worth reconsidering.
What Anthropology Reveals
Anthropologists studying primate behavior and traditional human societies offer valuable insights into what constitutes a "biologically normal" duration of breastfeeding. By comparing nursing habits of closely related primates and examining skeletal development and immune markers in human infants, experts have estimated that the natural weaning age for humans may fall anywhere between 2.5 and 7 years of age.
Katherine Dettwyler, a biological anthropologist known for her research on breastfeeding, has famously argued that full-term breastfeeding is the evolutionary norm for humans. In her studies of various cultures around the world, breastfeeding into toddlerhood and beyond is not only common but expected. It’s only in more industrialized nations—particularly the U.S.—that early weaning has become the norm, largely due to social pressures, marketing of formula, and a lack of public breastfeeding support.
Benefits of Breastfeeding Beyond Infancy
From a health perspective, the benefits of breastfeeding do not expire at 12 months. Breast milk continues to provide vital nutrients, antibodies, and immune support for as long as a child nurses. In fact, research shows that the composition of breast milk changes over time to meet the evolving needs of a growing child.
Breastfeeding beyond infancy also offers emotional and psychological benefits. It provides comfort, security, and a continued attachment between parent and child. Having a primary attachment figure is essential for social emotional development. For toddlers and preschoolers, nursing can be a source of calm during emotional stress, illness, or developmental transitions.
Additionally, mothers who breastfeed for longer durations benefit from reduced risks of breast and ovarian cancers, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These protective effects are dose specific which means the protective effect increases the longer a woman breastfeeds.
Challenging Social Stigma
Despite its natural roots and health advantages, full-term breastfeeding is often misunderstood in Western society. Mothers who choose to breastfeed older children may face ridicule or concern, even though major health organizations like the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics support breastfeeding for two years or more, as long as it is mutually desired.
Much of the stigma arises from cultural discomfort with bodies and boundaries of the breast. But when viewed through an anthropological lens, full-term breastfeeding is not an act of indulgence or eccentricity—it is a return to a biologically and historically normal practice.
Why Consider It?
Choosing to breastfeed past infancy is deeply personal. But for parents exploring their options, full-term breastfeeding deserves serious consideration. Its roots in human evolution, documented health benefits, and emotional support for both child and mother make it a powerful, if often misunderstood, parenting choice.
If you are looking for support for breastfeeding please reach out to the local La Leche League Group. La Leche League of the Western Plains offers a variety of services to support your breastfeeding journey.
Find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064626344476
Monique Koerner is the Family and Community Wellness Agent with K-State Research and Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at: 785-628-9430 or [email protected]