The Academy of American Pediatrics (AAP) has a similar stance, explaining that breastfeeding offers “significant health and developmental benefits for the child” and that there is “no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.”
For example, duration of breastfeeding experience has been shown to correlate negatively with parent-reported antisocial and aggressive behavior in children from 4 to 11 years of age [43]. These effects on antisocial behavior appear to extend well beyond childhood into adulthood.
Babies who are breastfed have a lower risk of obesity later in life. Children and adults who were breastfed have a lower rate of food allergies, asthma, eczema, Celiac Disease, and Type I and Type II diabetes, among others.
Many women experience common side effects to breastfeeding, such as back pain, chest and wrist pain. Many also experience bruising on the breast, cramping, and Osteoporosis. None of these should stop you from choosing to breastfeed; you should be aware should you start experiencing the symptoms.
Women who breastfed for two years or longer had higher blood levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and later onset of menopause, compared to women who breastfed for one month or less, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Sometimes these feelings were so intense that PTSD-like symptoms emerged surrounding breastfeeding—hypervigilance, flashbacks, nightmares, etc. Some of these moms developed postpartum mood disorders (such as postpartum depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD) and cited breastfeeding trauma as a potential cause.
Breastfeeding Mothers Feel Calmer
Studies have suggested that lactation gives mothers helpful hormonal releases of oxytocin, which help them to relax and reduce “fight or flight” hormones. Instead of feeling panicked in times of stress, breastfeeding mums are more likely to feel “calm and connected.”
Breastfeeding aversion and agitation (BAA), commonly referred to as nursing aversion, is a phenomenon where breastfeeding mothers experience negative feelings that are coupled with intrusive thoughts when their baby is latched and suckling at the breast.
"Breastfeeding into your baby's second year or beyond alongside other foods is ideal," says the NHS website. It adds: "You and your baby can carry on enjoying the benefits of breastfeeding for as long as you like."
Interestingly, one study found that depression severity was not related to breastfeeding status in a group of women diagnosed with postpartum depression [65]. Thus, while breastfeeding may be associated with depressive symptoms, it may not influence the severity of the symptoms.
Breastfeeding / Nursing Aversion & Agitation (BAA) is a phenomenon whereby breastfeeding / pumping mothers experience negative emotions triggered whilst breastfeeding, these include anger, rage, agitation and irritability. Women also struggle with an 'overwhelming urge to de-latch', and often a skin itching sensation.
D-MER is a “glitch” in the milk ejection reflex—the mechanism that allows breast milk to flow—and can cause negative emotions for anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes at milk letdown, according to Alia Macrina Heise, IBCLC, CLE, CPD, a lactation consultant in Naples, New York, who is credited with pioneering ...
Nursing your baby alters your life. You adapt your schedule, supplies that you keep with you, and clothes you wear. You are exhausted from the sleep deprivation on top of caring for a newborn, and your body is working hard to produce enough milk to keep up with your infant's feeding schedule.
If every feeding is stressful, anxiety-producing, or just plain painful, you have to pause to consider your mental and physical health. Maybe you've developed mastitis more than once or you're experiencing postpartum depression and the thought of continuing to breastfeed is making you miserable.
Prolactin also produces a hormone called oxytocin; the hormone that you might know of as the 'love hormone. ' Oxytocin is the reason why we feel so content and happy when we are breastfeeding. As we start to wean, prolactin levels drop, which stops the production of oxytocin as well,” Cortner explains.
For the personality traits, participants who had been breastfed scored lower in neuroticism (d = −. 06), anxiety (d = −. 06), and hostility (d = −.
Experts recommend that babies be breastfed exclusively (without formula, water, juice, non–breast milk, or food) for the first 6 months. Then, breastfeeding can continue until 12 months (and beyond) if it's working for you and your baby. Breastfeeding has many benefits for mom and baby both.
However, as you continue to produce breast milk, your prolactin levels stay high, and estrogen levels remain low, which can unexpectedly affect your pelvic health.
Thanks to biological and behavioral changes, it's totally normal to gain weight when you stop breastfeeding. "It's really common that women will stop breastfeeding and their weight goes up," G. Thomas Ruiz, M.D., an ob/gyn at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, tells SELF.
It's healthy to talk about how you feel and work through your emotions. You can look to your partner, family, friends, and other women who have weaned their children for support. A local breastfeeding group can also provide tips and advice to help you work through the feelings associated with weaning.
The Mayo Clinic advises that breast-feeding is “recommended as long as you and your baby wish to continue,” with benefits including “boosted immunity” and “improved health” for the child and “reduced risk of certain illnesses,” including breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, for the mother.
But people should be informed that nursing a 6-7+year-old is a perfectly normal and natural and healthy thing to be doing for the child, and that their fears of emotional harm are baseless."
Weaning ages varied widely, ranging from one month to seven years, four months. The average age of weaning for children was 2.5 years (3 years for youngest children).
Those that feed their baby formula can feel guilty that they're not offering breast milk, while breastfeeding mothers often feel guilt attached to stopping breastfeeding. The key is not to let breastfeeding guilt control your life. It happens, and there are ways to move past it.
Those who breastfed for a total of 25 months or more during their premenopausal years had a 26% lower risk than women who breastfed for less than a month. Similarly, women who breastfed exclusively seven to 12 months had a 28% lower risk of early menopause, compared to those who breastfed for less than a month.