She won’t share with many people the fact that she breastfeeds her toddler. She’ll feel she’s doing something wrong, that she’s going about motherhood the wrong way – she’ll hear and feel the judgement of the very same people who were so keen to support her in the beginning.
If she finds herself part of the 5% of Australian mothers still breastfeeding her child at age 2, she will largely keep this a secret. She won’t share with many people the fact that she breastfeeds her toddler. She’ll feel she’s doing something wrong, that she’s going about motherhood the wrong way – she’ll hear and feel the judgement of the very same people who were so keen to support her in the beginning.
When it gets to this point, she’ll turn to the only ally she feels she has – research.
She’ll quote that World Health Organisation recommendations state that children should be breastfed until age 2 and beyond. She’ll seek out peer reviewed, extensively researched, credible information that highlights the physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding. The research, she’ll feel, will be the only real support available to her.
So when ‘studies’ come out, which seek to undermine the only defence she feels she has, it hits her hard, right where it hurts.
But here’s the thing we need to remember – most mums aren’t choosing to breastfeed because it may or may not contribute to their child’s academic performance in the future. Generally, they’re not thinking about the future benefits it could offer at all. They are breastfeeding because of what it does, right now, in this moment, for their child. Because it makes their baby feel safe, loved and nurtured in the most organic way, in the same way it has since the beginning of time.
They’re breastfeeding because it’s right for them, right now.
The article that has come out, and the ones like it, should have no impact on their breastfeeding relationships, or the reasons they breastfeed.
We have to stop relying on the information we are seeking out so desperately to support our choices. We don’t need to wear the research like armour. We don’t need someone else’s opinion to validate our decisions.
If breastfeeding is the right choice for you and your child, that is the only confirmation you need.
Samantha Johnson is a writer, mother and fan of facts, fiction, feminism and families. You can find more of her articles over at The Huffington Post and follow her on Twitter.
