I had a speech pathologist as a member (visitor, actually, she never paid
dues...) of my LLL Group. She announced this "window of opportunity" thing,
and proceeded to tell the mothers about how she "needed" to feed her son
solids at 4 months, due to this window. 

She never created a full milk supply and "had to feed" supplementary formula
with a bottle d/t lack of milk supply. From my vantage point, I saw a mother
who did not want to feed more frequently than 4 hours, allowed the baby to
cry rather than feed for comfort, and used the pacifier frequently from the
time of birth (baby wanted to nurse "all the time".)

He does well transferring solids from front of mouth to back, but I see this
as a developmental reality, rather than a window of opportunity reality. He
did not gain well, would not be considered a "robust, healthy baby", his
developmental milestones have been otherwise loosely on target. 

It has been a somewhat difficult situation, because her credentials as a
speech pathologist (BS, MS) are real, and mine are, well, LLLL... I have
other credentials, but she is certified in the field of speech pathology,
and feels a great amount of expertise. A great number of mothers, however,
would speak a different story, if asked.

Best wishes,
Sam Doak


<<Angie writes:

If you look  at the speech pathology type of texts, there are windows of
opportunity  for oral feeding and transitioning of skills. 

~~
I have heard this idea before, about windows of opportunity. I wonder if  
there is any evidence for these windows that are actually based on studies
of babies who are only normally fed, receiving no artificial feeding at
all.>>

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