Lactnetters,
I am working on a book about children who are picky eaters (thanks for
all the emails, btw). It is not proving as easy as I'd hoped (no
laughing please, from those of you who've trod this path before - I'm a
literary virgin). My biggest problem is the total lack of research for
all the advice that is doled out to parents by doctors, health visitors,
child psychologists etc. But I am not defeated :-)

Here are a couple more questions I'd like to throw at you:
Q1. I have heard of several 18mo's who are still 95% breastfed and
reluctant to move onto solids. Is it appropiate to cut out breastfeeds,
in order to "encourage" more solids and is it likely to work?
Q2. Should a mother continue to nurse "on demand" throughout the second
and third years of life? Can a toddler nurse too much?
Q3. Is iron the only nutrient which could become insufficient with
extended, exclusive breastfeeding?
Q4. Does the "quality" of the milk degrade as nursing continues, and if
so, how long does it take? How long, theoretically, could a child
continue to be exclusively breastfed (from the mother, without
supplements)?

As you can imagine, these questions are prompted by the advice I am
hearing from various HCPs dealing with the "reluctant to eat solids"
child, which is, generally, offer solid food frequently, limit nursing
to after "meals" and at bedtime, don't offer the breast too often. I
always believed totally in "child lead weaning", but some of the cases I
am coming across in my research are causing me to doubt.
--
Anna H. Breastfeeding advocate and writer.
http://www.ratbag.demon.co.uk/anna/

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