Infant-initiated weaning from the breast in the first year

Mothers of 50 healthy breast-fed infants for whom weaning had been completed by the first birthday were administered a maternal feeding and weaning questionnaire developed by the authors. A major purpose of the questionnaire was to investigate the phenomenon of infant-initiated weaning, which is commonly, but somewhat misleadingly referred to as 'self-weaning'. 46% of the infants were reported by their mothers to have initiated weaning. The onset of this behavior occurred most frequently at 5 and 9 months of age. Most mothers attributed it to their infants' increased exploratory and nutritional desires and a concomitant reduced interest in breast-feeding. It is suggested, that rather than being weaning behavior per se, this behavior (at least that which occurs between approximately 5 and 9 months of age) may actually be a common correlate of the cognitive and physical discontinuities or 'spurts' in development which are known to occur during this interval, but that it can, and often does indirectly lead to a relatively easy mutual weaning from the breast if met with appropriate and timely maternal intervention.