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The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning
Part 2
By Kathleen Huggins, R.N., M.S. and Linda Ziedrich
And how do children feel after weaning? In one survey of U.S. mothers, most said their children's responses to weaning were "OK" or "happy" regardless of the children's ages.
The Zulu women had good reason to fear, researchers found: All their children showed disturbed social behavior after weaning (as described in Chapter 4). As far as we can determine, no similar studies have been made of weanlings in the United States or elsewhere. Western children might not react to weaning as strongly as Zulu children, who one day have free access to the breast and the next day have none. Still, most children may have stronger reactions to weaning than their parents care to talk about.
In all but a few of the Zulu children, however, the disturbed behavior ended within a few weeks. In describing their children after weaning, Zulu, American, and other mothers may tend to put out of their minds the stressful period immediately after nursing ends, and focus on their children's later behavior. It is not until a child has resigned herself to the loss of the breast, after all, that she can be considered fully weaned.
Some psychologists believe that no child ever resigns himself entirely to the loss of the breast. This may perhaps be true, since even children who voluntarily wean may be reacting, for instance, to a low milk supply or a sore in the mouth, and they may miss the breast even if they don't show it. In children weaned beyond about the age of three, nursing never leaves even the conscious memory, and as the older child voluntarily gives up nursing he may express ambivalence about doing so.
