>When you introduce solids, you are actually in the process of weaning.  The
>substitution of another food for breastmilk will naturally alter the supply
>and demand cycle.

This statement is not backed up by careful research.  On the contrary, the
work of anthropologist Sara Quandt has shown that when you introduce solids
*after* 4 months, you are adding calories and nutrients to those obtained
from breast milk.  This is in contrast to when you add solids *before* 4
months, when you are replacing breast milk calories with solid food
calories.  Since most of the world begins solids during the second half of
the first year and continues to breastfeed for several more years, and
continues to have post-partum amenorrhea for many more months after solids
are begun, it is obviously not NECESSARILY the case that the introduction of
solids means the beginning of weaning from the breast.  Examples:  my first
and third children who both started solids at 4-4.5 months, and continued to
breastfeed for 4 years and 5.5 years, respectively.  I had lactational
amenorrhea for 23 months with the first and 13 months with the third.
Lactational amenorrhea depends a lot of how often you nurse, especially at
night, and is not necessarily related to amount of solids, as long as the
baby still gets plenty of opportunities to nurse on demand.

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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html