Many people have negative attitudes toward long-term breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends all babies be breastfed for at least one year, and the World Health Organization recommends at least two years. The number of women in the United States who nurse their babies for at least one year is so small that it is statistically insignificant. American cultural beliefs pressure women against long-term breastfeeding, and most infants are weaned from the breast by four months of age. Social coercion to wean usually begins when the infant is about six months old.
Some women actually experience direct confrontation from strangers for breastfeeding in public.
Breastfeeding Basics, tells a story of an American doctor in a Muslim hospital. As he walked through the maternity ward, he walked in on a group of new mothers sitting around talking and nursing their newborns. When they saw a Western male, they rushed, fabric flying everywhere, to cover their heads. Not one of them covered their breasts. In their country, it was their heads and faces that strange men weren't supposed to see.