First of all, extended nursing doesn't cause any of those things you mention. Sometimes, poor parenting choices do. There is nothing that states that children who continue to comfort nurse cannot use a sippy cup or an open cup if they are exposed to them. Kids drink lots of things, like juice or water or whatever, that don't come from the boob. Instant learning opportunities. And "bottle mouth" is caused by poor dental hygiene, not nursing.
Drooling can be caused by a number of factors, including weak oral-motor skills, teething, overactive salivary glands, etc. (but tends to be the former). Nursing doesn't make you drool.
Nursing does not impair speech. I don't really see how expressive language development can be hindered by comfort nursing. Oh sure, when you have a boob in your mouth you can't really do a lot of talking, but the same goes for a hamburger. Speech delays can be caused by so many factors: weak oral-motor skills, troubles with motor planning, hearing loss, lack of language stimulation, brain damage, delayed cognitive skills, autism spectrum disorders, etc.
I also don't see how extended nursing causes social delays. Children learn social skills through interaction with other people and children, and unless you're nursing 24/7, you can still have lots of exposure to other people. Oppositely, extended nursing helps to establish a strong mother-child bond, and it is this stable bond that becomes the foundation and basis for all further social interactions.
It sounds like you have a bad experience with a particular child (or children) who have a number of things going on and also nurse. It's possible that these other things are related to parental strategies or actions that also include nursing, but occasional nursing does not cause these concerns.
My professional life is spent working with infants and toddlers with developmental delays. Some of the kids nurse, I would say 85% (or more) do not.
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Date: 2005-09-22 11:59 pm (UTC)First of all, extended nursing doesn't cause any of those things you mention. Sometimes, poor parenting choices do. There is nothing that states that children who continue to comfort nurse cannot use a sippy cup or an open cup if they are exposed to them. Kids drink lots of things, like juice or water or whatever, that don't come from the boob. Instant learning opportunities. And "bottle mouth" is caused by poor dental hygiene, not nursing.
Drooling can be caused by a number of factors, including weak oral-motor skills, teething, overactive salivary glands, etc. (but tends to be the former). Nursing doesn't make you drool.
Nursing does not impair speech. I don't really see how expressive language development can be hindered by comfort nursing. Oh sure, when you have a boob in your mouth you can't really do a lot of talking, but the same goes for a hamburger. Speech delays can be caused by so many factors: weak oral-motor skills, troubles with motor planning, hearing loss, lack of language stimulation, brain damage, delayed cognitive skills, autism spectrum disorders, etc.
I also don't see how extended nursing causes social delays. Children learn social skills through interaction with other people and children, and unless you're nursing 24/7, you can still have lots of exposure to other people. Oppositely, extended nursing helps to establish a strong mother-child bond, and it is this stable bond that becomes the foundation and basis for all further social interactions.
It sounds like you have a bad experience with a particular child (or children) who have a number of things going on and also nurse. It's possible that these other things are related to parental strategies or actions that also include nursing, but occasional nursing does not cause these concerns.
My professional life is spent working with infants and toddlers with developmental delays. Some of the kids nurse, I would say 85% (or more) do not.