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Date: | Thu, 4 Sep 1997 08:58:53 +0100 |
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>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
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