Deborah Harrell wrote:
> I posted stats on pregnancy/childbirth in developing
> vs. industrialized countries last year; I'm afraid
> that I don't remember which thread (although it may
> have been an abortion one), and the only number/trend
> I think I recall is that up to 1/3 of all women in
> developing nations have "significant" complications,
> and that figure is more like 1 in 250 in 'First World'
> women. But I could be soooo off...
>
> Developing nation women *do* have less breast cancer,
> as the risk decreases with more pregnancies and longer
> breastfeeding -- but I think I'd take the ability to
> regulate my fertility, thanks. :P
Longer breastfeeding is good. Good for the child, anyway. Up to a
point.
I think that someone did a study of various primates and determined that
based on a number of factors, the appropriate age of weaning for humans
is around 5 years old.
Most women in 'First World' countries wean a lot earlier than that. I
think I'm kind of out there for not having fully weaned Sammy until 18
months, but it *was* beneficial to him. The apparent immunity benefits
he got from it alone were good. (Then again, not having him in day care
helped keep him from getting sick, as well. A friend of mine didn't
manage to successfully start breastfeeding, had her daughter in day
care, and ear infections were a regular thing before the little girl was
12 months old, whereas Sammy didn't have a single ear infection until
about 3 months after he was weaned.)
Julia
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