He weaning It is the time when a child begins to stop breastfeeding, either by choice or by maternal decision.
Until recently weaning was understood as a more or less abrupt change in diet (this week weaning it), however weaning should be, rather than an act, a process and, so that both the son and the mother live it In the best possible way, it should be a slow process full of understanding and patience.
The Royal Spanish Academy of Language defines the word weaning as "To stop breastfeeding the child or the offspring of animals, seeking their nutrition by other means".
This term leads one to think that weaning, in humans, means abandoning breastfeeding, as I have said, more or less radically. The truth is that "Weaning" is a (bad) translation of the English term "weaning", which means "getting used to something different", changing the concept of "taking away one thing" from Spanish to "giving something different" from English.
In other words, for English-speaking mothers (from which the books we have in Spain are translated), starting to wean a child can be perfectly start feeding him porridge at six months, although he will continue to breastfeed until two years.
To adapt to the English concept "weaning" we will talk about partial weaning when new foods begin to be offered and we will call definitive weaning to the moment in which it is sought that the baby does not take more breast.
Since partial weaning is inherent to the growth of babies and in Spain we commonly know it as complementary feeding, I will focus on definitive weaning, which is the real objective of these entries.
The definitive weaning
It is a very personal and particular decision of each mother and her baby. By this I mean that It is and should be a decision of each mother-child binomial and not a medical decision.
For whatever reason, many pediatricians take the liberty of deciding for mothers what is the ideal time to stop breastfeeding their children. They do it based on personal opinions (based on erroneous myths), or based on assumptions without any scientific basis.
Thus they manage to reach a definite weaning or directly, even giving away samples of artificial milk (which, by the way, is prohibited) or recommending the use of formulas for porridge or indirectly replacing breastmilk shots with other foods (when the feeding should complement, but not replace).
The AEP, WHO and UNICEF recommend that children drink breast milk for at least two years and perform definitive weaning when the mother and child want.
It makes no sense that some pediatricians continue to "charge" breastfeeding if the highest health agencies recommend otherwise.
The decision, as I say, must be solely and exclusively of the mother and / or the child and it is an option that must be respectable and never judged.
In future entries we will continue talking about definitive weaning, when is the best time (or the worst moment) and what is the best way to carry it out if it is a maternal decision.
