WHO has a fantastic document, available free by download, on their global
nutritional strategy for infants and young children.
Apart from that, nutritionist Gabrielle Palmer has just published a small
book intended to provoke discussion on this topic, called 'Complementary
Feeding: Nutrition, Culture and Politics.  Like her first book, 'The
Politics of Breastfeeding', this book is easy to read (my judgment, 10 pages
in, just got it in the mail two days ago) and full of thought-provoking
information.

The longer I live, the more I wonder why on earth we expect sensible help
from a medically oriented health care provider on the issue of what food to
eat - for ourselves or for our children.  We've all been eating food all our
lives and we've all gotten this far, and the last time I got advice from a
health professional about food, it was from my GP, who told me that only in
India, where people can get 'dal', is it possible to survive on a vegetarian
diet.  That was almost 40 years ago and it cured me forever from the
delusion that a doctor might know more than I did about food.  This GP had
lived in India for several years, had an Indian cook and housekeeper, and
never learned that dal and lentils are the same thing.  Go figure.

Children are people.  People are incredibly adaptable to the conditions they
are subected to.  Nutrition is an inexact science, and children in both rich
and poor settings can be well nourished or poorly nourished, as Palmer
reminds the reader.  There is no 'one true way'.  Read the book :-)

Rachel Myr
inveterate fan of eating food, in Kristiansand, Norway

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