Erica asks, "To make her eat this porridge wich she really doesn't like, it
is better to
wean the baby so there wille no other option for her than taking the
porridge The dietician is convinced that children of this age should eat
more solids otherwise it is not inconceivable that in the future Lola has
to be fed with a tube. At this age she will take other food when she won't
get her breastmilk, is the thought behind all this..... Are there any L C's
with simular experiences or does anyone have sientific evidence. I am very
much inclined the reassure the mother that there are no real reasons in
this case to wean the baby at this age. I even very much doubt wether there
won't appear new ,even bigger problems, when this mother
follows the advice above.But is that a safe thing to advise. Please send me
suggestions".

Erica, IMHO your concerns are well justified, and your advice not to wean
would be sound.  Fortunately, I only have one experience of abrupt weaning,
but it was so dramatic that I always now advise against it for any future
case I ever come across.

I live in Zimbabwe and I am lucky enough to have a male cook/housekeeper
(my right arm!) who works for me, and lives in a little house (called a
"kaya") just a few metres away from mine with his wife and family.  I want
to share a case history about the first daughter of my last cook who worked
for me for over a decade.  This little girl was of course still
breastfeeding at l8 months and was toddling everywhere, happy and
developing well.  One weekend I heard unconsolable crying coming from the
kaya and went out to investigate.  I found, to my horror, that my cook's
wife had abruptly weaned the baby, because she had wanted to breastfeed
"all the time" and - in the mother's opinion - was not eating enough
"food".  The mother assumed that if she withheld the breast the baby would
be forced to eat.  But it didn't happen - the baby still refused to
eat.  To compound the problem, there is a traditional belief that if the
mother does not breastfeed overnight (usually when the mother leaves the
child to attend, say, a funeral) then the milk becomes poisonous, so that
the baby cannot be put back to the breast.  So nothing I could say would
persuade this mother to resume breastfeeding.  The baby was not
breastfeeding and neither was she eating.  She eventually developed
kwashiokor, with edema of the face and legs.  She stopped talking, she
could no longer walk, she was a very sick little girl.  I insisted that the
mother keep taking the baby back to the health clinic and eventually she
recovered, but that this could have happened, and in my back garden, was
something I shudder about even now. It was a very dramatic example to me
that a small child cannot be "forced" to eat, and that the consequences of
abrupt weaning from the breast can be disastrous.

Needless to say, when the next baby came along I was very clear with my
cook;  his wife and babies were very welcome to continue living in their
kaya, but if his wife attempted to abruptly wean the second baby as she had
the first (and I would know because of the crying ...) then she would have
to do it somewhere *else* - I wouldn't knowingly allow this to happen on my
property again.  Result:  the second baby was allowed to self-wean, and
everyone was happy!

Erica, feel free to share this account (a study of one) with the dietician,
and the mother. Please let us know what decision is made.  It sounds to me
as if this baby needs continued breastfeeding, mother needs to continue to
eliminate known allergens from her own diet, and baby needs to slowly wean,
much later, when her gut is more mature.  Your instincts are right.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe
(who is so proud of baby #6 [4th baby of second cook, his third wife, her
first baby!] who was born at 2900g and has just reached 7880g at 6 months
on absolutely exclusive breastfeeding, and yes! this baby will self-wean
too, if they want to carry on living here!)

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