Just to add to Kirsten's observations, I remember that around the time the ad campaign was being 
launched, it was noted that while the AAP breastfeeding group recommends exclusive 
breastfeeding for six months, the AAP itself recommends starting solids between 4 and 6 months 
of age.  Confusing, huh?

There are similar contradictions in the UK. The British government recommends 6 months of 
exclusive breastfeeding, but one health visitor told me that, as a group, health visitors had 
decided not to support that, "because it would deplete babies' iron stores."  I wrote to the 
government about this and got a very thoughtful reply acknowledging the disconnect between the 
government's advice and what women tend to hear from health visitors.

In any case, many HCPs in both countries seem wedded to the idea that "delaying" solids until 
babies are 6 months old is dangerous. I'm not sure what the state of the research is on this.  I just 
checked Cochrane Reviews, and they find no compelling negative effects but rather a number of 
positive health outcomes associated with exclusive breastfeeding until the 6 month mark.  

This topics comes up every once in a while on lactnet, and I think the most helpful thing I 
remember is Jay Gordon's observation that our species probably would not have flourished as we 
have if human milk became woefully inadequate only a few short months after birth.  

Kerry Ose

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html