Anne Eglash posted an interesting case about poor growth in a baby who was
nursing back and forth between the two breasts quickly, and therefore not
getting the fat-rich hind milk.  The baby was also eating a lot of low-fat
foods (fruits and veggies) and the combination seemed to be slowing his
growth.  She asked what sorts of solids kids get in places like Mali where
mothers are malnourished.

Interestingly, the adults consider only the staples of the diet to be "real
food" -- and the staples are all low-protein, low-calories, bulky
carbohydrates: millet, sorghum, fonio, rice, corn (all higher in protein
than manioc or yams as the staple, but still pretty low).  If the child
isn't eating the staple foods at the regular meals, then moms will say the
child "doesn't eat anything."  Falling into their category of "snacks" or
"not real food" are the things kids nibble on between meals or beg their
moms to buy them at the market:  fish fried in oil (high in
fat/protein/calories) or peanuts (ditto) or bean paste balls fried in oil
(ditto).  So the mothers might say the child hasn't eaten anything all day,
yet when I probe it turns out that the child had two little fried fish in
the market (bones and all), some peanuts from a neighbor, and two bean balls
made by the mother for a snack.

Another "problem" or issue involved in the "when to introduce solids"
question is that in the U.S., moms tend to be consistent about when and how
much they give, so that once the baby has started solids at 6 months, say,
the baby gets regular solid meals -- 1/2 a jar of fruit in the morning and
1/2 jar of cereal in the evening, or whatever.  Then these amounts gradually
increase steadily as the baby gets older.  In many Third World situations,
this isn't what happens -- baby may have started solids when he was 6 months
old, meaning that he ate some rice and sauce one day when he was 6 months
old.  Then three weeks later he had some mango, and two months after that he
ate some fish.  In Mali and in Cameroon, "starting solids" to the moms
usually means when the baby first ate the staple food of the culture, and
doesn't mean that the baby gets solids every meal, or even every day, nor
that the child eats the same amount or increasing amounts every day.

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
Specialist in infant feeding and growth