>friend with a 17 month
>old...The baby hates almost all food, except
>bananas.  He won't eat any meat...The lack of protein is a real concern to
>Mum.  >She recently stopped breastfeeding...

If Kathy Dettwyler is right and the biologically appropriate "weaning
window" is 2 1/2 to 7 years, then the 6 or 7 month date for starting solids
may be nothing more significant than "permission to dabble".  When, deep
down, we see  1 to 1 1/2 years as an appropriate weaning age, then the 17
month old who doesn't eat becomes a problem even for us.  When we see 3 or
4 as an appropriate weaning age, then the 17 month old is nothing more than
a tad slow.  As we say about such milestones as potty training, he probably
won't go off to college eating nothing but bananas.

But you can't combine being relaxed about a 17 month old's diet *and*
weaning prematurely.  Perhaps the big problem here is not that the 17 month
old doesn't eat, but that his age-appropriate food has been discontinued.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY