Extended breastfeeding

Extended breastfeeding is continuing to breastfeed a child beyond the age commonly expected in a particular community. It has no universal age threshold.

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World Health Organization breastfeeding recommendations: Guidance from the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding with complementary foods to two years or beyond. Its guidance explicitly supports breastfeeding beyond infancy without setting an upper limit.
Breastfeeding stigma: Negative social judgments or treatment directed at people who breastfeed. Judgment about nursing older children can contribute to stigma and pressure to stop.
Breast milk: Milk produced by human mammary glands to nourish an infant or child. It remains a source of nutrition and bioactive components during extended breastfeeding.
Exclusive breastfeeding: Feeding an infant only breast milk, apart from specified medicines or supplements. Unlike extended breastfeeding, exclusivity concerns what an infant consumes, not how long nursing lasts.
Complementary feeding: Introducing foods alongside breast milk or formula as an infant's nutritional needs change. It describes how breastfeeding can continue while a child gradually eats family foods.
Attachment parenting: A parenting approach emphasizing responsive caregiving and close parent-child bonds. Some families connect extended breastfeeding with this broader approach to caregiving.
Lactation: The production and release of milk from the mammary glands. Understanding lactation explains how milk production can continue beyond infancy.
Breastfeeding: Feeding a baby or child with milk from the breast. Extended breastfeeding is a duration-based description within the broader practice.
Breastfeeding during pregnancy: Continuing to breastfeed while pregnant with another child. It is one circumstance in which breastfeeding may continue beyond a child's infancy.
Maternal identity: How a person understands and experiences their identity in relation to motherhood. Decisions about when to stop breastfeeding can become part of how parents define their role.