Some toddlers don't breastfeed for various reasons. Some develop an aversion early while others cannot access the same. One of the latter circumstances is when the mother is suffering from a debililaling disease like HIV/AIDS. What alternatives are available in such situations?
I remember my mother not breastfeeding our baby because she had an illness. I was young at the time and I was not privy about it. For those who cannot breastfeed their baby, there are some community centers that provide mother's milk in bottles from another lactating mother. The nurse in the center supervises the extraction of the milk into the bottle. The mother in need pays for the bottle of milk that goes to the lactating mother. It is a healthy connection for the benefit of the baby.
There are many people who wean the child off milk at six months, and children don't become toddlers until they are a year old! Babies can be weaned onto solid foods or baby foods very early if they need to be, although it isn't ideal for their immune system. If the child is too young for that some hospitals have milk banks to provide human milk from donors, or there is always formula. While formula isn't as good as natural milk, it is better than the baby going hungry, and children have been surviving and thriving is less than ideal conditions for years. Parents just have to do the best they can.
I stopped breatfeeding my baby at eight months old simply because she prefered her bottle more than my breats milk. I think the reason was that my breasts didn't produce enough milk for her liking. She would drink a full bottle every two hours and I don't think my breast milk produced that quick. She just suddenly stopped trying to drink my maternity milk.
For baby's that don't or can't breastfeed for whatever the circumstance is, they have a program called WIC (woman, infants & children) in the State I live in to help assist the mother in buying formula through vouchers that pay for it. It's a very good program they offer.
I believe that the pediatricians tend to encourage breastfeeding until at least one year. At one year the child is considered a toddler. Breastfeeding isn't really necessary at this stage in development, but some parents prefer to continue breastfeeding into toddlerhood due to their own personal preferences. I wasn't able to breastfeed beyond 3 months because I was on a medication that was not compatible with breastfeeding. My son is happy and we have not had any toddler-related complications due to his early weaning.
I had to rely on milk formula to feed my baby because my milk production was really low and he would go hungry if he relied solely on it. While I do believe that mother's breast milk is the best for baby, I wouldn't want my son to feed off other mother's milk for various reasons. For one, I don't have any clue as to the health condition of the would be donor. I doubt if there are serious screenings for donors at all. Then there's the issue of how the milk was extracted and stored afterwards. It might be an easier decision if it was my sister's breast milk, though.
I know we weren't breast fed by my mom, and I was told that she used a breast pump. I don't know what it does so I googled it: "A breast pump may also be used to stimulate lactation for women with a low milk supply or those who have not just given birth." I remember my dad told me my mom had inverted nipples, and my mom showed it to me as well, so I guess that was the cause of her having difficulty breastfeeding.
I think despite the fact that number of alternatives available but there is no real match available of mother's milk. I recently came in contact with number of mothers either breastfeeding or their babies on formula. In Australia new mothers are given gift baskets which contain different formula milks and they try it happily but I don't think there is any formula that is as perfect as mothers' milk for their babies. But yes, there are cases where you have to feed babies on other milks like cow's, goat or soy etc.
I breastfed both my children. I thought my son would never be weaned because he did not like a bottle but he went straight on to a cup and seemed happier with that. My daughter weaned herself. She would take both the breast and the bottle so by 8 months she was taking only a bottle. Even though many women feel guilty for not feeding their children, formula is so good these days that children do just as well. My nephew was fed formula and was just as healthy as my children were, in fact I think he had fewer health problems than my son.
