Thanks are due Sandy Arnold for alerting us to the article, which we in Geneva have not yet seen. Judgement and action are reserved until we do. However, this is perhaps a good opportunity for you to have access to WHO's infant-feeding recommendation and not what someone else says it is. The reference is: Weekly Epidemiological Record 1995;17:119-120. <The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be fed exclusively on breast milk from birth to 4 to 6 months of age; that is, they should be given no other liquids or solids than breast milk, not even water, during this period. Given the worldwide variation in growth velocity, an age range is an essential element of this feeding recommendation. Mean growth Z-scores are indeed observed to begin falling at different points within this 4-to-6-month range in breast-fed infants from different populations worldwide. WHO and its partners are in the process of refining the definition of "optimal" growth, as measured by accepted functional indicators of infant health and well-being. <After this initial 4-to-6-month period of exclusive breast-feeding, children should continue to be breast-fed for up to 2 years of age or beyond, while receiving nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods. Starting complementary feeding too early or too late are *both* undesirable. Ideally, the decision when precisely to begin will be made by a mother, in consultation with her health worker, based on her infant's specific growth and development needs. <WHO's current infant-feeding recommendation was based initially on the technical review and discussion undertaken in 1979 in connection with a joint WHO/UNICEF meeting on infant and young child feeding. The meeting's statement and recommendations were subsequently endorsed in their entirety by the World Health Assembly. Important additional scientific evidence including, most recently, from the WHO Expert Committee on the use and interpretation of anthropometry, underscores the reliability of the 1979 review. <Although future scientific information and better understanding of the variable impact of individual and population circumstances may well warrant a change one day, present scientific evidence confirms the suitability of WHO's long-standing infant-feeding recommendation.> If anyone has a copy of the WP article, my fax number is (41-22) 791-4156. Also, fax no. and e-mail address for WP would be appreciated. TIA. Jim Akre, Nutrition unit, WHO