Breast feeding duration

How long should a woman breast-feed for?
There can never be any hard and fast rules about this. Food supplements can be introduced into the baby's diet at about ten weeks but these should be in the form of fluids only, such as clear fluid and diluted fruit juice.

Even though the gut can handle "soft" solids at this stage, these should not be introduced until around fourteen to sixteen weeks. Breast­ milk is more than adequate for the first three months of life and therefore the need to wean a baby before then is simply not there.

Some women will wean the baby off the breast completely by six months, others at twelve months. Most will have stopped by eighteen to twenty-four months. Every individual should decide on the best arrangement in her case.

A baby is quite ready to be fed on full-cream cow's milk by the age of 12 months. It is unwise to introduce formula milk at this stage. Skimmed milk should not be used.