----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Bussman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:26 AM
Subject: Re: [LACTNET] LACTNET Digest - 23 Feb 2008 to 24 Feb 2008 - Special 
issue (#2008-265)


**Hello Christine (and others),

> The other thing that has happened with this conversation is that it has 
> focused entirely on one of the signs of readiness.  There are others also. 
> Teeth, for instance.  And the loss of the tongue-thrust reflex.

**These are, indeed, other signs. Nevertheless (admitted I didn't yet read 
the downloaded report someone gave a link to), most have focussed on 
*external* signs and sofar I have not seen a reply to my question about 
*internal* signs.

> Babies are different.  They will be ready for solids at different ages. 
> All that research can do is tell us what is the _average_ age of 
> readiness.  Should we deny a baby solids when he is ready because he's 
> ready early?  Should we force-feed a baby solids before he is ready if he 
> becomes ready late?

*If he is ready late (i.e. as far as motor skills and curiosity are 
concerned), chances have increased that gut closure has occurred. If he is 
ready early (motor skills/curiosity), we, or at least I, still don't know 
about his GI tract development. That is: if they are not closely related, 
like I asked Nikki ("does gut closure preceed grabbing hands and demanding 
voices?"), the gut could still be susceptible to e.g. foreign (species 
unspecific) proteins.

> That's one thing I don't understand about those who think the calendar 
> tells when a baby is ready for solids;  what about the baby who doesn't 
> want solids at six months?  If that baby's lack of interest can be a sign 
> as to whether he is ready, why can't a baby's interest also be a sign?

*There is less harm to be expected from a baby exclusively breastfeeding for 
another one or two months, than from a baby taking in less breast milk and 
substituting that for less nutrient dense foods.

> In my mind, introducing solids to a baby who is demanding them, showing 
> other signs of readiness, and is somewhere around half a year old is just 
> part of the same approach as cue-feeding and child-led weaning.  It is 
> letting the child take control of his own food consumption.  I'm not 
> suggesting that the child's control is absolute, but a child at any age 
> knows whether he should eat more or not.  He should be able to choose 
> among a few reasonable options picked by a grown-up.

*To a certain extent I agree, but not fully. We have made so much fuss, all 
of us, about not introducing that first bottle because of all the harm it 
can do. With maturation, there is a decreasing risk of all that can happen 
when you give that first bottle in the early days. I'm interested in the 
preference some have expressed to rather giving solids than formula before 
six months, if you do want to add something. (Like Jack Newman says: rather 
give glucose with low blood sugars than formula! I was sort of shocked, but 
have given it thought since then.) Considering the vital importance of an 
intact GI tract, my question remains ("when is the intestinal mucosa ready 
for solids?") and I hope the WHO-report in my files will answer it, if the 
answer does not show up here.

> To insist on feeding solids at exactly six months because that is the 
> average time of gut closure sounds to me like insisting that a breast-fed 
> baby eat every two hours because that is what research shows to be the 
> average stomach emptying time for breastmilk.

*Here, I really disagree. Neglecting gut closure has obviously different 
consequences than not sticking to a certain feeding frequence (which is no 
problem whatsoever).

> I guess I just trust babies and trust mothers' instincts

*Do not forget that instincts are often very much influenced by what others 
say, no matter how ridiculous! If we would all go by our instincts, we would 
all breastfeed for a couple of years and we don't! Biocultural aspects have 
an enormous impact on so called 'instinct'. When people's instincts say, for 
example, that you shouldn't pick up a baby or you will spoil it, you know 
that *true* instinct is fully overruled. To go by your gut feeling (haha... 
gut feeling... ;-)) is a quest in itself: can we discern between biological 
gut feelings and sociocultural gut feelings, when they differ a lot...?

about their
> babies more than I trust technology, research, or calendars.  Perhaps 
> that's part of the difference between the approach of LLL leaders and LCs? 
> I know that if LLL ever changed its recommendations to be based on the 
> calendar rather than baby's readiness, I would be unable in good 
> conscience to continue to be a leader.

*I don't know if it is an LLL-matter; I'm a volunteer, too, and I am very, 
very much in favour of trusting mothers and baby's. Sadly enough, many old 
wives' tales have been internalised and I think we still have a long way to 
go before knowledge about breastfeeding is again so widespread that it 
coincides with gut feeling and instinct. Refraining from things, in today's 
society, is, in all area's, not a very popular thing to promote. Saving 
before spending money, birthing without anaesthesia, truely loving and 
knowing someone before having sex, investing time in children at the expense 
of your own free time... these are all harder to find than before, due to 
all sorts of societal developments.
To reach optimal health benefits from breastfeeding, I would really like to 
try and ensure that baby's (physical) intestines are up to more nutritional 
challenges, just as I would like to try and ensure that babies first have a 
safe home before they let the rest of the world enter their (psychological) 
lives.

> I must say that I appreciate how polite everyone is being in talking about 
> an issue that many of us feel very strongly about.  Thank you to everyone 
> who has been making me think more clearly about this issue and why I have 
> the beliefs about it that I do.

*Yes, I feel the same! ;o)

Warmly,

Marianne Vanderveen, Netherlands 

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

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