Hi,

In a culture where so many babies are prematurely weaned, ny mums ask the same questions. Babies and children are designed to breastfeed well into the second year. (and beyond, actually) Babies under 12mnths old don;t "decide" they don't want it.
There are certain touchpoints, I think, in our breastfeeding experience, due to our baby's growth and development. The usual course of events I see is that baby's pattern changes - they have a few days where they are grumpy, hard to settle or hard to feed. Around 4 mnths they are so *excited* by their growing awareness of the world around them. They can hardly bare to keep still and feed. At 9-10mnths they are so "busy" they want to interact with their friends and the world. Mother introduces a bottle (often on the advice of friends or family.) Baby displays the same action with the bottle as with the breast - he arches and pulls away. But, the parents just follow his head with the bottle - plug it in, and he has to "drink or drown" He also discovers that he can walk still play and see while he drinks a bottle. Milk supply falters as baby takes less from the breast. Although mother said to herself "It will be just one bottle", she's busy, the phone rings, so just ads in "one more bottle". Milk supply falters even further. Any sensible baby will choose food from a bottle over scant pickings from the breast. When asked, mother tells her friends the short-hand version "He decided he didn't want it anymore - he wanted a bottle". The long version is often too painful to recount. Thus the myth is perpetuated, and the next mother is lead to believe that some babies "just don't want the breast".