Reply to To the woman breastfeefing her 4 year old at the table at Wild Tomato...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Who cares? Are you the same sort of b*tch who judges women for formula feeding? Why do you care?

Scientists think the natural age for weaning is between 2-7 years, btw. So 4 may not be common in the U.S., but it's within the realm of normal. Don't be so small-minded.[/quote]

I'm a scientist and the data does not support your assertions. Breast feeding a 2-7 year old is not natural in any society, but that number is an oft quoted Kathy Dettwyler paper. There is no country in the world with an average age of breast feeding higher than 31 months (Bangladesh).  Age 4 is not "within the realm of normal". [/quote]

What kind of "scientist" lacks the reading comprehension to distinguish "natural age" (i.e., evolutionarily predetermined biological age) from "average age".

Also, you're a poor hard sciences practitioner if you're conflating cultural norms with biological imperatives. After all, in the 1970s, the average age for weaning in the U.S. was 3 months. I hope you're not suggesting that would in any way be reflective of biology (rather than a cultural movement toward artificially feeding infants). Maybe you're a soft science practitioner? That could be why you're using (anecdotal) sociological data to attempt to make a biological argument.

Biologically speaking, human children -- even those without the genetic mutation that allows for lactase persistence -- produce lactase for many years, up to about age 8 (a study showed children without the lactase persistence mutation stopped producing lactase at this age: [url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2113102[/url]). Mammals stop producing lactase when they are ready to be weaned from milk (with the exception, of course, of humans with the lactase persistence gene). The age at which the genes for lactase production switch off is a good indicator of the upper boundary for weaning. In fact, it's one of the best markers since it is purely biological.[/quote]

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