I am feeling a little prickly about this, so please forgive me if I am coming across too strongly. I am not intending this as a flame :) Rachel Myr quoted Magda Sachs' earlier post >".....The baby also gets to suck on a few drops of wine as part of the ceremony when it is over, which often seems to help them sleep a bit..... This means that the baby has ended then, if not before, the period of exclusive breastfeeding." and commented: > think it means merely that the baby has tasted something other than breast milk for the first time, comparable to a baby who may be given paracetamol syrup following casting for club feet, when acute pain is at its height. I don't think Jewish boy babies who are ritually subjected to an off topic procedure continue to get drops of wine at regular intervals from that moment on. Conjecture on my part, I admit, and I stand prepared to be corrected by those in the know. Really! Thank you Rachel! I always thought of my son as being exclusively bf till he started solids at 5.5 months. It never occurred to me count the 2 or 3 drops on wine he got at his bris (circ) any more than counting the tylenol he got after a particularly bothersome innoculation. He certainly did NOT get a regular ration of wine (laughing here!) unless you count the occaisional glass that I drank. Magda wrote: >This means that the baby has ended then, if not before, the period of exclusive breastfeeding. I wonder if this would provide an interesting population of boys, who have had mixed feeding at 8 days or so, with the girls from the same community who might continue exclusive bf longer? Of course, dividing a study 'subjects' by gender might throw in some other confounders, but it seems an interesting 'natural' opportunity. (Assuming anyone in this population DOES breastfeed exclusively, of course.) I am not sure why you would assume that anyone in *this population* DIDN'T breastfeed exclusively. Why make ANY assumptions? I always thought of *mixed feedings* as being breastfeeding plus solids. A one-time only ritual drop of sweet wine in not my idea of a meal :) Coming down from my soapbox now.... feeling a bit wobbly...maybe I need a glass of something myself... Norma Ritter, IBCLC private practice in Big Flats, NY [log in to unmask] ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html