I think it is difficult to assume we know the whole nutritional picture of
an older infant without in depth information.  Nevertheless, having just
come from Katherine Dewey's talk at the American Academy of Breastfeeding
Medicine on the new guidelines for complementary feeding, I think there are
a few tips that might be considered in this case.  The two nutrients that
are needed first are iron and zinc.  Even though I have worked in
international nutrition for over 20 years and knew that these were critical
nutrients - I was astounded by how much is needed in that 9-12 month
period.

I am sure that we can all site cases of infants who do just fine on breast
milk alone for 12 months. BUT we have to keep in mind that there is a great
deal of variation in nutritional needs among infants and that there is also
a great deal of variation in activity levels.

So, for most infants according to a vast amount of research - the need for
iron and zinc in addition to breast milk is considerable.  This probably
came about because (contrary to popular belief and no offense to
vegetarians) our original diet before we became an agricultural society
about 10,000 years ago - was meat, nuts, berries and other gathered foods.
So infants actually had access to a fair amount of meat.  In her research
there is NO evidence-based support for the advice in most nutrition books
and pediatrician's offices to avoid meat for the first year of life.
Infants probably did eat meat and that's why there was not the high levels
of anemia in infants in once we adopted agricultural practices.  So, the
new guidelines recommend meat once a day - and foods fortified for zinc and
iron for infants that are on a vegetarian diet.  The research was quite
clear that most babies cannot meet their iron and zinc needs on a
vegetarian diet without supplements or fortified foods.

The reason why zinc is critical to consider is because it plays a huge role
in appetite regulation.  Also, in my surveys of cereals sold in health food
stores in my are - NONE are fortified with zinc.  So, while fat is also
important - I would hate to see that be the sole focus of nutrients for
this child.  In addition to being critical for appetite, the zinc is also
critical for the immune system.  The iron is absolutely critical for brain
development.  Iron deficiency (even before anemia appears) can lead to
irreversible developmental delays.

I have always been astounded that even though babies are biologically very
similar - there are vast disparities in what has been recommended for
children in developing countries and the low-fat, low-calorie, low-nutrient
dense foods that are often recommended as first foods in developed
countries.

Best regards, Susan Burger

PS.  One bit of advice that turned out to be wrong that we used to use in
developing countries was suggesting five small meals a day.  It turns out
that the there is a trade off in terms of number of meals interfering with
the breast milk supply.  One of my former classmates did a study on social
marketing in Guatemala that showed an unintended side effect of their
campaign.  In the groups that did respond to the campaign the number of
meals went up and the number of breastfeeds went down.  Now, the advice is
to work up to 3-4 meals a day by the end of the first year rather than 4-5.

Susan E. Burger, PhD (international nutrition), MHS, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html