Thanks are due Sandy Arnold for alerting us to the article,
          which we in Geneva have not yet seen.  Judgement and action
          are reserved until we do.  However, this is perhaps a good
          opportunity for you to have access to WHO's infant-feeding
          recommendation and not what someone else says it is.  The
          reference is: Weekly Epidemiological Record 1995;17:119-120.

          <The World Health Organization recommends that infants
          should be fed exclusively on breast milk from birth to 4 to
          6 months of age; that is, they should be given no other
          liquids or solids than breast milk, not even water, during
          this period. Given the worldwide variation in growth
          velocity, an age range is an essential element of this
          feeding recommendation. Mean growth Z-scores are indeed
          observed to begin falling at different points within this
          4-to-6-month range in breast-fed infants from different
          populations worldwide. WHO and its partners are in the
          process of refining the definition of "optimal" growth, as
          measured by accepted functional indicators of infant health
          and well-being.
          <After this initial 4-to-6-month period of exclusive
          breast-feeding, children should continue to be breast-fed
          for up to 2 years of age or beyond, while receiving
          nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods.
          Starting complementary feeding too early or too late are
          *both* undesirable. Ideally, the decision when precisely to
          begin will be made by a mother, in consultation with her
          health worker, based on her infant's specific growth and
          development needs.
          <WHO's current infant-feeding recommendation was based
          initially on the technical review and discussion undertaken
          in 1979 in connection with a joint WHO/UNICEF meeting on
          infant and young child feeding. The meeting's statement and
          recommendations were subsequently endorsed in their entirety
          by the World Health Assembly. Important additional
          scientific evidence including, most recently, from the WHO
          Expert Committee on the use and interpretation of
          anthropometry, underscores the reliability of the 1979
          review.
          <Although future scientific information and better
          understanding of the variable impact of individual and
          population circumstances may well warrant a change one day,
          present scientific evidence confirms the suitability of
          WHO's long-standing infant-feeding recommendation.>

          If anyone has a copy of the WP article, my fax number is
          (41-22) 791-4156. Also, fax no. and e-mail address for WP
          would be appreciated. TIA. Jim Akre, Nutrition unit, WHO