The dates listed below are approximate. You are the best judge of when your baby is ready for the next step in the list. Just watch your baby!

• The first few days: benefits of colostrum
• The first few months: perfect food, perfect preventive medicine
• Two to six months (the "reward period"): comfort, security, nutrition, health
• Six months to one year: Beginning solids; nursing more and more for comfort, security, and health, gradually less and less for nutrition.
• The second year: comfort, security, health
• The third year and beyond: a cherished memory
• See also:
  • Breastfeeding while pregnant
  • Tandem nursing
  • Weaning

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