Mamels life animal

Weaning in primates is a fascinating  process  in which ingestion of mother’s milk, as a proportion of daily dietary intake, incrementally declines as the infant ages.    From moment to moment, this exquisite negotiation of nipple access between mother and infant can vary in relation to food availability, maternal style, and the compelling power of the infant demand (aka weaning tantrum). Oh and lots of other factors can influence the weaning process too. Field Museum, Chicago One of the more remarkable features of human development is that cessation of breastfeeding occurs earlier for us than for our closest ape relatives. This is not just an artifact of a modern industrial world. In 2001,  Dan Sellen reviewed >100 non-industrial populations using demographic and ethnographic records. The average age of the introduction of supplemental solids was estimated to be ~5 months (±4 months) and cessation of breastfeeding on average was estimated to be ~30 months (±10 months). Chimpanzees

Last week the internet was aflutter with reports about Curtis a man who was planning to exclusively consume his wife’s breast milk. The couple had accumulated a stockpile of frozen breast milk that was no longer needed since weaning their baby. Dr. David Katz , director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, reportedly responded by saying that "the rapid growth and brain development of early childhood is best fueled by the high-fat, energy-dense elixir of breast milk." Its reported that Katz then further explained that breast milk has less value to an already developed adult. While the second half of Katz’s response is indeed supported by data, the first half demonstrated a wide-spread misconception about the specialness of human breast milk and provided the opportunity to present the first substantive post for Mammals Suck… Milk! To cut to the chase, it turns out that human milk is indeed super special! Just like the milk of each mammalian species is super special