{"id":3663,"date":"2016-12-06T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feminem.org\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2016-12-04T14:41:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-04T19:41:15","slug":"extended-breastfeeding-choosing-nurse-past-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feminem.org\/2016\/12\/06\/extended-breastfeeding-choosing-nurse-past-first-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Extended Breastfeeding: Choosing to Nurse Past the First Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
You may remember the cover of <\/span>Time <\/span><\/i>magazine from several years ago, in which a slim, pretty blond mother was nursing her three year old while he stood on a stool. The photo was clearly staged to be provocative, but the ensuing outcry made it clear that breastfeeding toddlers is quite a taboo subject here in the U.S. (and increasingly throughout the world). However, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breastfeeding continue for <\/span>at least <\/span><\/i>12 months\u2014and as long as \u201cmutually desired by mother and child.\u201d As long as breastfeeding continues, both parties experience important nutritional, immune, and other health benefits. In fact, some anthropological studies have suggested that humans evolved to breastfeed for two and a half to seven years. <\/span><\/p>\n Extended breastfeeding, defined as breastfeeding longer than 12 months, can be a challenge for working women. For women in Emergency Medicine, the unpredictable schedule adds another layer of complexity. To learn more about whether women who continued to breastfeed beyond the conventional 12 months faced any pressure from their co-workers or employers to stop pumping, what motivated them to continue breastfeeding, and what other challenges they faced, I conducted an informal survey on the Physician Moms Group on Facebook. \u00a0Women from a wide variety of specialties responded. <\/span><\/p>\n