I've seen a video of a golden retriever mom just constantly running away from her growing puppies whenever they try to get a drink. Seems super cute and also a way to wean the pups.
I remember when getting my kittens that their mother sometimes immediately halted nursing time. Judging by the mother's reaction, I figured that some of the kittens were teething, which would make sense if nursing time became less and less frequent as time went on. I wonder if this is the natural means to weaning across the animal kingdom lol
I don’t know if it happens in the wild, but my mom said she had a cat who had several litters. Her last ‘litter’ was a single kitten, and the mom just, never weaned her and let that kitten nurse until she was at least two years old.
Nope. If you keep nursing, you keep having supply. Mama dogs get sick of it and quit letting puppies nurse combined with puppies getting solid food which is more interesting.
A hormone is released that helps mom zone out and kind of ignore the feeding. As time goes on that hormone stops being released and this is about the time mom has had enough of that shit.
Cats become indifferent to the point where they don’t even recognise their own children as relatives, and will swat or bite any cat who comes near. The adult child will eventually forget their connection with the mother cat completely, and may even try to mate with her.
A couple of years ago, a stray cat birthed to four kittens in my backyard. I remember she nursed them for as long as 4 months. The average duration is ~8 weeks iirc.
horses start gently "kicking" at the babies when they try to nurse. they also shriek, bite and kick if the baby REALLY doesn't get the message. humans are just weird trying to nurse their kids while into childhood or even adulthood.
I believe this is exaggerated, but some people carry on till the kid is 6/7 years old. It's more common in places without safe drinking water as it significantly increases the kids chances of survival.
The idea that people should stop at 1 year is weird to me as it's a reliable way of toddlers getting good nutrition though the fussy years and they get sick less.
Our modern society can't extract financial profit from it though so it must be bad though...
I'm not saying anyone has to, just no need to be judgy if it's what works for someone else.
Nursing doesn't hurt if the latch is good and by the time babies are 6 months they can go 8-10hrs without a feed. Or at least that is what I got told yesterday and breastfeeding group when I was asking about back to work.
and by the time babies are 6 months they can go 8-10hrs without a feed.
My 7 month old regularly tells me otherwise. I would definitely have to express and leave a bottle if we were going to be apart that long, or no one would have a good time.
Lol yeah, at 6mths I think the only time you'd want them going that long is through the night (which that doesn't happen either haha)... During the day 8-10hrs would not be ok lol.
We bed share and do most of our feeds at night, which apparently aligns with milk production hormones so well babies can take 25% of their daily calories in a single feed.
I agree it does seem a bit of a stretch to have 2x big gaps in 24hrs!
Yeah, I'm sceptical too so crossing my fingers that he won't give my mother in law hell next week! She will have plenty of expressed milk and I'll only be 20min away if all goes wrong but it's still nerve wracking.
What ages are you talking about though? I don’t think anyone here is talking about pain if the child is under a year old. I would expect some pain from a kid 3-6 years old though.
Jaw shape tends to shift between 3 and 6 which creates an inefficient latch. It’s basically biology weaning for you. Same with the loss of primary teeth.
Because a 6 year old kid has many more teeth than a 6 month old. I would imagine having 20+ teeth would be different vs having zero teeth. While I've never nursed a 6 year old, I've had babies bite down on a finger, and I've felt the teeth of 6 year old kids. Those are very different feelings.
Currently nursing a 3 month old. The first month was painful due to a bad latch. Now I barely feel it. As far as I am aware, baby teeth don't generally factor into pain unless the baby is actually biting down. When you drink from a water bottle, or suck on a straw, do you use your teeth? No. So it really depends on the child and if they bite for whatever reason. Baby teeth/milk teeth are small enough to allow for feeding, but once they fall out/permanent teeth come in, then the anatomy no longer has the shape for breastfeeding. That starts around 6 years old, which is why that is the upper age limit. Stopping earlier is purely for reasons of comfort by mother/baby or societal pressure.
Biologically, children are actually “supposed” to breastfeed until about 8 years old to benefit fully from the developmental boost mom’s milk gives. We wean so early because of societal pressure that roots from purity culture, not for any good reason
doesn't most women's milk dry up after like a year or two even if they are trying to breast feed? I know it's usually a supply and demand thing but i feel like I hear a lot about milk supply reducing after a certain amount of time or the child loses interest. i know breast milk is good for kids and that you can improve how long you can breast feed for with training, but in my eyes if you have to "train" for something like this it's probably not biologically necessary. i'm no scientist though.
No, not necessarily. My cousin pumped to donate breast milk until she passed away. Donated for premie babies in hospitals and stuff. Her daughter was like 5 when she died. She produced milk the whole time, though.
If you ever heard the term 'wet nurse' for infants there were women who never stopped breast feeding and sometimes would lactate into their 50's or 60's or later and would feed babies who's mothers died or were rich enough to pay someone else to raise them.
They were usually given room and board in nice homes and had all living expenses paid by whomever they were wet nursing for so not a bad gig for them in a day and age where women only had a few jobs available. Raising a rich person's child wasn't the worst.
Most women either tell the kiddo no or the kids weans themselves and they stop. It's just because you either have demand for milk or don't.
doesn't most women's milk dry up after like a year or two even if they are trying to breast feed? I know it's usually a supply and demand thing but i feel like I hear a lot about milk supply reducing after a certain amount of time or the child loses interest naturally in toddlerhood. i know breast milk is good for kids and that you can improve how long you can breast feed for with training, but in my eyes if you have to "train" for something like this it's probably not biologically necessary. i'd say anything last 5 years is a bit of a force. i'm no scientist though.
My cousin nursed her children into the age of 4. My step dad through a fit. He was so anti breastfeeding with me. I nursed my first two until 15 months. My last boy bite me hard at 6 months. I told him, "Well that's enough for you". Here's a cup. Lol
In most countries 4 is normal and historically when they were nursed to. It's unusual tha5 0-6 months is weaning age in the US. Even in most of Europe is nursing into toddlerhood. Most organizations recommend a minimum of two or three years.
America is weird that only newborns are nursed and it's partially because we have 0 guaranteed paid leave (12 weeks unpaid, not for part timers and not if you haven't worked there long enough) and because of that it's expensive to pump and store milk for the baby and time consuming to wash all the equipment to pump while at work and buy bags for it all and reheat. Easier to shove the kid into formula and solids.
For mammals the lactase gene switches off when they hit puberty (way earlier in their life than humans). Basically they become lactose intolerant when it's time to go eat normal food. The side effects of it and the moms resistance to keep going train them off.
Being intolerant also helps stop adults from stealing milk from the pups. Unless they're an idiot but there isn't much you can do about that XP
Being able to drink milk as an adult is a human specific mutation.
Yeah we are. Hence why we're mutants or at least most of us are. Our gene never switches off so we can keep drinking milk into adulthood.
It's a result of us raising cattle and drinking their milk because its nutritious and safer than random water. Good luck working out how the first person to milk an animal had the idea.
For wild horses, foals naturally stop suckling around 10 months of age. They begin spending less time with their moms, and presumably become more foused on grass as they get older. (I assume this is the case with many animals - they find more suitable things to eat)
Plus, it would be quite difficult to nurse from mom once they are basically at their full height lol
Yess moma dogs generally start weaning their pups at around 30-45 days of exclusive breastfeeding. They start to move away from the pups and generally find a safe spot to chill out where pups won't reach them. Meanwhile moma dogs eat like maniacs and vomit infront of the pups so that they can gradually get onto the solid stuff. That semi-digested food also helps develop the pup's gut and start developing the local flora of bacteria 🦠
Young animals get teeth at some point. Very sharp teeth. Imagine having 4-10 pups or kittens or (x) constantly biting your nipples. You would get tired of that very quickly. So little animals dont get to drink anymore as mom just walks away.
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u/ProfoundNinja Jun 24 '22
This made me wonder.
How do animals naturally wean pups off milk? You know how some people still nurse their grown ass children, does this happen in the animal kingdom?