我儿子差不多2 1/2岁，白天每3-5小时看护一次，晚上4-7次。
我几乎6年没睡超过4个小时。我的儿子，然而，是健康的，快乐的，独立，我看不出任何理由让他断奶。
I believe that children outgrow the need to nurse just as they outgrow the need to crawl,在尿布里大便，or the need for holding and cuddling when they are scared or lonely.
Breastfeeding是正常的，healthy,nutritionally,免疫学上，心理上是有益的，在所有灵长类动物中，护理一直持续到“幼儿期”。
还不确定？Take a look at my answers to the many funny,令人尴尬的，还有一些有趣的问题，我经常会问到如何照顾一个蹒跚学步的孩子。
你还有牛奶吗？
这可能不适用于所有照顾27个月大的妈妈，but I have enough milk that I still leak and spray at every nursing session,I still have an active (and forceful!) let-down,就像一个新妈妈，I will get engorged if I do not pump,对我来说，可能导致导管堵塞和乳腺炎。I worked very hard to build up and maintain my milk supply,and I still am diligent aboutpumpingevery 2-3 hours when I'm away from my son.
他需要母乳作为营养吗？
我儿子没吃东西固体食品直到他15个月大，他还没有消耗“大多数”27个月大的人所消耗的食物。I am grateful that I can nourish him with nature's perfect food,不能被任何人造奶或动物奶复制。母乳是为我的孩子从出生到断奶而设计的；它富含蛋白质，健康脂肪brain-building substances,and vitamins,not to mention immune and antibiotic properties.它总是合适的温度，而且总是在手边。我不相信给我儿子喝别的动物的奶，and humans are the only animals who seem to think that this is a good idea!我儿子唯一喝的是水，喝一小口葡萄汁荆棘.
If he's old enough to ask for it,他是不是太老了，不能吃？
Well,我儿子还没开口，and although he has been signing for milk since he was 11 months old,he still needs to nurse.谁决定“当他们可以要求的时候，他们应该断奶“一定不想继续护理，and that's fine for them,但它对我们很有效，口头或签名！
Isn't it weird having a walking talking thinking LARGE child nursing?
我承认，照顾一个新生儿，甚至一个1岁的孩子，和照顾一个穿靴子和雨衣的孩子是非常不同的。但我很难理解为什么它不被接受。Besides the fact that it's not "typical," I don't see that there is anything inherently wrong with it,other than people thinking it's wrong.
你对此有什么限制吗？
When a newborn needs to nurse in line at the supermarket,你毫不犹豫。With an older child,需求可以公开讨论，并且通常是围绕着的。我的儿子知道我们现在在某些地方而不是其他地方护理，这对我很重要。
If my son wants to nurse because he is hungry,如果当时护理很难管理，我会先给他一份点心。一个月前我在百货公司内衣区的地板上照顾我的小弟弟。他的需要很好，他等不及了，so I decided to meet his need right there and then.
我不在浴室护理，(I don't eat in bathrooms,那我儿子为什么要这么做呢？），当我们出去的时候，我试着记住一条毯子，但我经常忘记。我培养了一个愉快而自信的微笑，在护理时闪现，有时会有冷冰冰的眼神和尴尬的眼神，sometimes I get a thumbs-up and that really makes my day.
But you don't nurse him at night,你…吗？？？？
在我们家里，我们让我们的孩子在做完之前一直护理，地球相对于太阳的位置并没有改变我们的哲学。孩子们在晚上和白天都需要我们。My son nurses 4-7 times a night.我累了吗？Yes!一旦我的头脑冷静下来，我的身体就习惯了吗？你这个笨蛋！我是怎么做到的？我找到了志同道合的妈妈们ios下载beplay的支持，她们让我觉得自己并不孤单，也不奇怪。And almost overnight,我不再觉得累了。Once my self-pity lifted,plain old manageable exhaustion set in.I can manage it,我们很好。And this exhausted Mama is the one who gets up at 4,5，或者早上6点和孩子们在一起，so don't imagine I am sleeping it off while the nanny lets me rest;没有这样的保姆！
这不会让他被宠坏吗？
There is no respected scientific statistical evidence that children who self-wean are brattier,更宠坏了，不太独立，社会化程度较低，or less productive in society.相反，研究表明，自我断奶的孩子已经学会了他们的需求是重要的，他们的发展没有按照别人的时间表进行，and they are confident that love is abundant.These children typically show early healthy依赖that flourishes into healthy独立时间合适的时候。
你丈夫怎么想？
我的爱人，patient,open-minded husbandis very ios下载beplaysupportive of me nursing our boys until they are done,我们花了大量的讨论和研究才做出这个决定。I do not take his ios下载beplaysupport for granted for one minute.一旦我们和我们的两个儿子都达到了2年的目标，I will admit that my husband thought we could encourage more eating of solids to see if the need to nurse would diminish.如果我们的儿子断奶，虽然，我丈夫的工作量会大大增加，因为让孩子打盹的首选方法是母乳，and the way to soothe him to sleep at night,and to soothe him throughout the night is with breastmilk.一旦牛奶消失，我们必须有创造力；and that creativity will bebothof our jobs- and that ultimately means less sleep for Dada!
你什么时候停？
I don't know.希望到他3岁的时候。我无法想象自己在照顾一个3岁的孩子，我自己也看到4岁和5岁的孩子在护理，我无法想象。我的第一个儿子在26个月时断奶了，所以我从来没有照顾过这么大的孩子。我在学习，too,但我愿意真正接触到我孩子的需要，并尽我所能以一种富有同情心和爱心的方式为我们的利益而行动。
Is he nursing for comfort?
Sometimes.大多数情况下，他护理很多牛奶，但是大嘘声得到了牛奶的提议，有时候这是唯一能做的事。At night,我认为这是一种“习惯”，但这确实是一种有偏见的描述最简单、最流畅的方式，那就是让一个还没有掌握自己所需技能的小个子睡着。为了记录，我的大儿子直到26个月时才停止哺乳，直到晚上才起床上厕所。我安慰他，在他断奶后的头几个月里，我每晚摇晃他4-7次，but very quickly he developed the skills to soothe himself at night and not need to go potty every 2 hours.他现在每晚睡10到12个小时，很少有人偷窥。
你的家人/朋友/公众怎么看？
Most everyone in my family thinks this party should have been shut down yesterday.我的博士学位in Neuroscience as well as my recent certification as a Lactation Educator/Counselor has quieted many of their attempts to reason with me,因为我有很多研究，ios下载beplay支持，and education on my side,and most of what they have – with all due respect- is uninformed hunches,personal uncomfortableness with nursing,只需计划“我没有那么做，那你为什么呢？”推理。Most of my close friends in our community nursed their kids into the toddler years
*
我是推倒吗？A weak mom who needs her son more than he needs her?一点也不。我是不是让我的孩子过我的生活？没办法。Am I spoiling him?There's no evidence of that!我是否喜欢知道，哺乳时间越长的母亲的乳房发育率越低，子宫卵巢癌和骨质疏松症？当然。Do I enjoy knowing that breastmilk contains antibiotic,抗过敏，以及抗肥胖特性？对。这就是我为什么要这么做吗？不。Those are neat facts,but the real reason we nurse this way,现在，all night,整天，任何地方，无论如何，is because it's not broken,so there is nothing to fix.
最终，I get to parent the way I want to,and you get to parent the way you want to.我可能没有说服你延长护理时间是我认为的那样美妙，but that's okay.When I see my precious son gaze into my eyes and grin that milky grin – the same eyes that looked into mine minutes after he careened out of my body;the eyes that convinced me that my only job was to keep this child thriving with the miraculous resources given to me through my body- not much else matters.
Recommended children's books depicting extended nursing:
Breastmilk Makes My Tummy Yummy
Cecilia Moen
我是用妈妈的牛奶做的
by Mary Olsen
成人：
断奶是如何发生的
by Diane Bengson
Mothering Your Nursing Toddler
Norma J.庞加尔纳
