Hi,

Anthropologists have looked at the available evidence and surmised that children self wean between 2.5 and seven years. But some of the confusion that comes about when you are at mothers group or another group of friends and they say that their (insert any age) baby "self-weaned" is a matter of definition.
Young babies (under a year) don't self wean. But feeding is important! Faced with a choice between an inadequate breastmilk supply and a full bottle, most smart babies will choose the bottle. This is not truly self weaning, but based on sheer survival from the baby's point of view.
If mother and breast are unavailable, and baby becomes used to another type of feeding, then the baby may become more comfortable with this as well, and seek it over the breast.
Breast refusal for a short time in the early moths (4 mnths seems to be the *peak* time for this) is relatively common - and we are still trying to pin down the causes. It could be the baby's normal "business" and engagement with it's surroundings - wanting to get "out there" instead of being "pinned to the breast". Or it might be the start of an illness - being a bit off their food - or something else entirely. Many times a mum will misinterpret this as "wanting a bottle" - of course babies don't know bottles exist unless their parents introduce them. If a bottle is introduced at this time, the mother's heart breaks as the baby appears to scoff the bottle. (there may be many reasons why this "appears" to happen - bottle feeding and breastfeeding are 2 different things entirely) It seems to confirm for her that baby didn't "want" her. Nothing could be further from the truth. In most cases it's nothing to do with weaning, and in most cases is very tempory.
Society seems to have lost the skill of trouble shooting even the most basic of breastfeeding issues. The standard information given to mothers facing problems seems to be "put it on the bottle" I've also found that when a mother says "My baby didn't want the breast anymore" in a social situation it's code for "I had a lot of problems that at the time I felt were insurmountable and I felt my only option was to wean my baby, but it's too painful and complex for me to go into with you right now" - so what comes out is "he self-weaned"