If you’re past 6 months, you will most surely get concerned comments that breastfeed babies are clingy.
First of all breastfeeding past infancy is normal and recommended.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that continued breastfeeding has benefits for as long as mom and child want to do it.
- World Health Organization (WHO) takes it a step further by recommending that babies be breastfed for 2 years or more.
Moreover extensive research on the relationship between cognitive achievement and breastfeeding has shown the greatest gains for those children breastfed the longest.
“Breastfeeding is a warm and loving way to meet the needs of toddlers and young children. It not only perks them up and energizes them. It also soothes the frustrations, bumps and bruises, and daily stresses of early childhood. In addition, nursing past infancy helps little ones make a gradual transition to childhood.“
Elizabeth N. Baldwin, Esq. in “Extended Breastfeeding and the Law”:
Research has also shown that children who achieve independence at their own pace are more secure then children forced into independence prematurely.
You can rest assured that some babies are clingy. No matter how they are fed. And the benefits of breastmilk are far more than nutrition.
