Description

In this health video you will learn about different time frames for breast feeding mothers for when to stop.

Transcript

Raena Morgan: How long should a mother breastfeed her child? Several months? The first year? Dr. Molly Ferguson: Well, right now, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending for one year, actually—for a whole year. And they’re recognizing the benefits of breastfeeding actually through two years. The World Health Organization is actually recommending that people breastfeed for two years. So, those are pretty lengthy breastfeeding times for most of the American public. We’re not used to that in our culture. Raena Morgan: No. Dr. Molly Ferguson: Other cultures, they’re very much—that would be very typical breastfeeding length. As a naturopathic doctor, I certainly recommend that people breastfeed at least a year and I would encourage them to breastfeed as long as the child desires and as long as it works out in their family because you are going to see those immune benefits throughout that second year even. Your child is going to get sick at different points and it’s really nice to be able to use breastfeeding as a way to treat the baby with the immunoglobulins in the mother’s milk, as well as passing herbs and supplements through the mother’s milk as well. So when your infant is sick, you can actually, you know, give the mother vitamins and give the mother nutrients or herbs and that will pass through the breast milk to the infant. Raena Morgan: So you can actually take extra herbs and vitamins for the baby’s sake. Dr. Molly Ferguson: Yes, and that’s a very common way to treat a baby, as far as naturopaths go. Raena Morgan: Isn’t that interesting? Dr. Molly Ferguson: Yep. Raena Morgan: That’s a way to treat the baby, through the mother. Dr. Molly Ferguson: Yep. Raena Morgan: Well, they used to breastfeed when my grandmother was raising her children, until they were two and three, even. And there was nothing out of the ordinary about that. My grandmother would talk about her son climbing up in her lap to breastfeed, and I went, “how old was he?” “Two.” So, but it’s a good thing for their immune system. Dr. Molly Ferguson: It absolutely is. You know, obviously at two years of age, it’s more of a supplement, but it still provides those active immunoglobulins and it still provides some of the proteins and nutrients, you know, that they’ll need for growth. Raena Morgan: Well, good news for babies. Dr. Molly Ferguson: Yep. Raena Morgan: Thank you. Dr. Molly Ferguson: You’re welcome.