The Breastfeeding Toddler Basics: What You Should Know

There are many issues that mothers are curious about in regards to the matter of breastfeeding toddler, for example what the benefits are and how old the toddler should be before they are weaned from the breast.

Breastfeeding Toddler Tip #1

The first breastfeeding toddler tip is in regards to how beneficial breastfeeding is for your toddler. There are many benefits for toddlers, including some of the same reasons that babies love to be and should be breastfeed, such as for nutrition, comfort, security, a way to calm down, and reassurance.

As well, breastfeeding your toddler will help them to mature, as a breastfeeding toddler is having his needs met, and the closeness and availability of the mother through breastfeeding is one of the best ways to help your toddler grow emotionally.

Breastfeeding Toddler Tip #2

There is also the factor of how a breastfeeding toddler will understand discipline better. This is because discipline is about teaching a child about what is right and good, and not acting out with punishment for normal toddler behavior. In order to help a toddler learn about and understand discipline, he needs to feel good about himself, and his world, and breastfeeding will help to do this.

Breastfeeding creates a special and unmatchable bond between mother and baby, and this is incredibly powerful when the baby is a toddler as well. Although often it has been said that breast milk basically has no value after six months, this is completely incorrect. Even after six months, the breast milk will still contain fats, proteins, and other nutritionally important and appropriate elements of which babies and children need.

As well, your breast milk will still contain immunologic factors that will help to protect the baby, and in fact, there are some immune factors in breast milk which protect the baby against infection and are present in greater amounts during the second year of life than in the first. This means that your child will be receiving even more benefits from your breast milk if you continue breastfeeding them during the toddler years.

There has also been the question raised about whether breastfeeding your toddler will make them less independent as a person, but again this is untrue. In fact, the child who breastfeeds until he weans himself, which is usually around two to four years old, is usually more independent, and even more secure in his independence as a whole.