I completely agree with Jen O'Qinn's post on "windows of opportunity" and FTT. I have worked with many babies 
diagnosed FTT both in early infancy and into toddlerhood . The common theme is that breastfeeding is, across the 
board, blamed for the condition and AIM is seen as the "medicine". Babies are diagnosed with "breastmilk colitis" and 
"breastmilk allergy" yet I never hear of AIM colitis or AIM allergy. Breastfeeding is the normal thing the baby is doing 
in spite of all the abnormal things that are happening. 

It is really disturbing to me that anyone might fault a mother for "delaying medical intervention" when babies are not taking 
solids or growing as well as they ought to, given that medical intervention so often means an assault on breastfeeding 
and breastmilk, misdiagnosis, invasive medical procedures and complete disrespect for the breastfeeding relationship. 

It is amazing to me that a doctor might think that a family's quality of life is threatened by an inability to drink cow milk
but not by artificial feeding. It is amazing to me that in about 5 minutes I can recognize gestational structural 
restrictions, posterior tongue-tie and food allergies when the docs cannot. Instead they label FTT and try to think of
ways to bully the mom into AF. 

I had a doctor tell a mom recently that there is little evidence that eliminating cow milk eliminates intestinal bleeding. 
Okay, but where is the evidence for "breastmilk colitis" and why wouldn't we try the harm-less approach first--eliminate
cow milk, rather than the harm-full approach--eliminate mother milk? Because these docs really believe that AIM is a 
cure. So breastfeeding is the risky business we tolerate until we can rush in to rescue with AIM.  

And all of this irresponsible breastfeeding creates kids who cannot use spoons. There must be quite a rash of irresponsible
breastfeeders in China and Japan--those kids have had to figure out how to get food with little sticks, since their mothers have 
deprived them of spoons. Sometimes I am just stunned at the myth and foolishness that pass as medical wisdom. Honestly, 
I believe that almost every case of poor growth not associated with a medical condition or syndrome (and even many of these) 
is likely associated with food allergies, tongue tie or structural restrictions. 

Which comes back to why I think LCs need to become adept at assessing posterior TT (most babies I see have seen at least
one other LC before me who has missed the TT), adept at recognizing structural limitations and restrictions and making good
referrals and knowledgeable about nutrition and holistic practices to address these problems, b/c there are no other sane
solutions. 


Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC

I am not convinced that the "window of opportunity" for "spoon feeding" is real.
"Spoon feeding" is cultural...no one has to eat with a spoon.

Babies will start to pick up food and eat it with their hands when they want to, and when 
they can- they don't have to be "taught" how to eat solid food when they have no 
underlying medical problem.

FTT under a year of age is usually the result of too little, not too much breastfeeding, and 
it never has anything to do with the "failure" of the mother to force her child into eating 
solid food.
??
Most cue-fed babies/toddlers who can transfer milk well, and who have mothers without 
milk supply problems, will gain weight well on a year of exclusive to a year and a half of 
near exclusive breastfeeding, something they do by choice even though they are offered 
solid food.

The vast majority of these children will go on to incorporate more and more solids into 
their diets as their caloric needs out pace their mothers' milk supplies, and their growth 
will never falter because their mothers missed that supposed "window of opportunity" to 
"teach" their babies to eat solid food.

After a year to a year and half of age if FTT appears it is in spite of, not because of the 
level of breastfeeding a child is doing, or has done in the past. At this time exclusive or 
near exclusive breastfeeding, is a SYMPTOM- not the cause- of their feeding problems.

When the elderly have weight loss or feeding difficulties the medical profession 
recommends "formulas" because of the ease of consuming liquids and the nutrient density 
of these formulas. It is completely senseless to blame or withdraw breastfeeding as part 
of a care plan for a baby or toddler with FTT.

If a child is still breastfeeding when he presents to the medical profession with difficulty 
with chewing or swallowing- and he actually does need surgery or therapy so he can 
"learn" to eat-   the first response of the medical profession is to blame the mother for 
not introducing solids at the "appropriate time" in the "appropriate fashion" but this is 
almost never what has happened.  

[I am not saying that there aren't cases of FTT where mothers are withholding solids from 
toddlers who want them, but surely this is rare, (except in certain sub-cultures where the 
practice of exclusive breastfeeding for two years is actively promoted.)]

Most mothers begin to offer solids even earlier than they should.
It is the child who either refuses them or else is "appearing" to refuse them because 
when he gets them in his mouth he can't cope with them.

Some of the reasons I have seen that babies and toddlers refuse solids include- 

-they have been late to cut teeth and when they finally do have a mouth full of teeth they 
eat.

-severe tongue tie- they can't use their tongues properly to manipulate the food to the 
sides of the mouth where it can be chewed and then swallowed.

-severe food allergies


I have seen many cases of late failure to thrive where the doctor has recommended 
complete weaning from the breast because he has been taught the "window of 
opportunity" myth and he thinks breastfeeding has to be withdrawn in order to force a 
child to "learn" to eat. 

This is about as effective as starving the baby who cannot make a latch- thinking he can 
be "starved" into breastfeeding. 

It is the "window of opportunity" myth that make so many doctors approach feeding 
difficulties like a carpenter who only has one tool- a hammer- in his tool box.
Bringing the hammer down does more damage than good. 

The underlying chewing, swallowing, or allergy issues don't magically go away when 
breastfeeding has been withdrawn.

The only reason the "window of opportunity" myth persists in the medical profession is 
that so few doctors and nurses have any personal experience with mother-baby 
togetherness and cue-feeding  which results in a copious milk supply and a normal course 
of nursing where solids play little role in a child's nutrition until well after the first 
birthday.

Any research that purports to show a "window of opportunity" that closes before a year to 
a year and half of age simply hasn't had enough cue-fed, breastfed babies and toddlers in 
its research sample. 

On this list alone I'd bet there are thousands of examples of breastfed babies who refused 
any quantity of solids until the middle of the second year of life, and when they finally did 
want them they had no feeding difficulties whatsoever and their growth never faltered in 
the slightest.






 








             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome