Nina Berry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  At around six months
> breastmilk is no longer sufficient to maintain growth and development on its
> own. 

Are there any good evidence-based papers on this - where mothers are
well-nourished, and babies are exclusively breastfed on cue _past_ seven
months of age?

> Hence the recommendation that infants begin complementary foods.
> These foods are given in addition to breastfeeding, which should continue
> into the third year and beyond.  Have a look at the Global Strategy for
> Infant Feeding. Have a look at The Optimal Duration of Exclusive
> Breastfeeding.  

The Optimal Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding doesn't look at whether
breastmilk is "insufficient" after six months, as far as I can see. It
only compares 3-4 month solids introduction to about-6-months solids
introduction. 

In the background section, it explicitly states that the "insufficiency
of breast milk alone" is "theoretical", and on page three it states that
the supposed "insufficiency" is based on inaccurate assumptions, and
attempts to look at it have been plagued with major biases.

And in the conclusion, it says "We found no objective evidence of a
"weanling's dilemma." It opens the discussion about an optimal age of
solids introduction; it doesn't close it.

<http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/optimal_duration_of_exc_bfeeding_re
view_eng.pdf>

We have recently had conversations on Lactnet debunking the "window
period" hypothesis of solids-eating skills, and we have had plenty of
discussions about babies who were happily and healthily fed on mother's
milk alone for much longer than six months.

I read The Optimal Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding  as showing that
solids introduction at six months is not damaging in the way that solids
introduction at 3-4 months is. Not that solids _must_ be introduced at
six months to avert major consequences: which is how this is so often
set up by healthcare workers to bludgeon parents whose babies don't open
their mouths on cue for huge quantities of spoon-mush at 26 weeks of
age.


Lara Hopkins

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