i was reminded of two other factors that i tend to assume have an influence on
the onset of puberty, tell me if you have seen information about this? one is
the presence of hormones in the diet, largely from animal products such as
beef and chicken (anecdotal story i heard about a woman with breast pain and
tenderness, ate chicken every day). also, i recall reading that the level of
fat in the diet influences the timing of puberty, and that in fact the
Victorians were aware of this, and attempted to influence this by limiting the
diet of young girls. this gives a new spin on the story of Jane Eyre, whose
cruel life in the school for orphans included a pathetically meager diet.

i often find the second most common cause of colic after dairy is iron, mainly
in the mother's intake, sometimes also in the infant. the worst-case-scenario
is the mother still taking her prenatal vitamins (very high iron levels), ALSO
taking iron supplements (and i mean on the advice of the hcp), and giving the
infant oral vitamins with iron. baby usually is going ballistic.

and in other media slams, my daughter got a video tape of Arthur's Baby from
the library, yep, the little cartoon character whose new baby sister gets a
bottle. and i can hear that the main feature on the whole tape is the baby
crying, continually. ouch! it made me "mad about it."

carol b. in denver where more snow is waiting to fall on rush hour.