Ablactation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌæb.lækˈteɪ.ʃn̩/

Definitions

1. The term refers to the act of gradually transitioning an infant from breastfeeding to a diet consisting of solid foods and other nutritional sources
2. This concept encompasses the process of shifting a child from nursing exclusively on breast milk to eating a more varied diet and discontinuing lactation
3. The process involves the gradual discontinuation of nursing, allowing an infant to transition from a diet of breast milk to solid foods and other nutrition sources

Etymology: Ablactation is a word built almost entirely from Latin parts, and its core is milk. Latin "lac" meant "milk," and the verb "ablactare" combined it with "ab," meaning "away from," to describe taking a child off the breast, or weaning. The English noun came through Late Latin "ablactatio," the act of weaning, and entered English in the Middle Ages, when it appeared as "ablactacioun." The word is essentially a compound of "ab-" and "lactation," which is itself the familiar term for milk production and feeding. So the English term carries the same milk root as words like "lactose" and "lactic," with the prefix reversing the sense: where lactation is the flow of milk, ablactation is its withdrawal from the infant's diet.

Synonyms: weaning