Mardrey,
I have the entire Pisacone article. When they said exclusively bf, they
meant the infants received NOTHING but human milk until they started
solids at 5-9 months of age. Children who took even vitamins were
excluded from the study. They found that the babies who started solids
at 7 mos or later did not become anemic. These babies received nothing
but their mothers' milk until starting solids. THis is the strongest
study to date on this subject. Unfortunately, the authors minimized the
importance of their findings in the discussion of the results, stating
that this is reassuring in cultures where moms will not accept
supplemental iron for their bf babies. Not even an intimation that we
should reconsider the practice of shoving iron-fortified solids into bf
babies to "prevent" anemia. Disappointing...
--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC NYC [log in to unmask]