Hi all!  I am not a whiz at searching the archives, so my attempts to pull
up the posts failed.  However, at about 2/96 through 5/96 I posted similar
questions about an 18 month old baby that didn't eat anything other than
2-3 Cheerios/day and nursed 6-8x/day.  He was taking the tri-vi-sol
vitamins at the time but no other supplements.  It was my son and my pedi
had just freaked out at our 18 mo check up and claimed I had stunted my son
physically and intellectually by nursing so much rather than giving solids.
This was after 9 months of my saying I was concerned that he had a very
odd "eating" pattern and spit out food rather than swallowing it.  I had
offered solids from 6 mos and he loved and ate purees but nothing with any
texture.  As he got older then he didn't want the puree anymore and only
took Cheerios.  Lactnet came through for me and gave me the proof that I
needed to relax.  By about 18 mos the baby might need more calories - sheer
numbers of calores - than available in breastmilk alone.  In my son's case
the Cheerios filled the caloric needs that breastmilk didn't.  I was
pointed to several things to look at to check adequate nutrition:
        growth - not on a curve, but gaining inches/ounces or parts thereof
        meeting developmental milestones on or near target
        activity level - alert, happy, active
I believe it was Kathy D. (hi!) that posted a wonderful note about this.  I
found it very, very reassuring.
        Then you all came through for me once again by commenting on my
son's eating pattern (which I had described in detail) and mentioning that
it was indeed quite odd.  I was steered in the direction of how to have it
assessed.  We had him checked and he had a hypersensitivity to texture in
is throat (not mouth).  My son now has a new pedi (whom we love) and has
outgrown his hypersensitivity and eats everything.
        This is a long post (sorry) to give an overview and point you in
the direction of the archives from about 2-5/1996.  In my son's case,
breastmilk was enough for him until over 2 years of age with the addition
of the occasional Cheerio and normal vitamins for a child that age.  Yes, I
would *offer* food when the baby showed readiness signs.  However I would
not *panic* if the baby chose not to eat what was offered.  Of course the
caveat is that each case should be evaluated individually to ensure that
the child is still growing, active and healthy.
        Sorry for the length of the post.  Do check the archives.  Hope
this helps.

Linda V., near Philadelphia Pennsylvania and in dire need of some coffee!