I'm still no mail and reading LN in the archives only. The thread on baby-led weaning, and the thread on legitimate clinical reasons to give solids before six months, prompt this post. The official Norwegian recommendation is now exclusive breastfeeding for six months unless the baby is not thriving, in which case supplementation is advised. Below four months they recommend breastmilk substitutes but if the lack of thriving as shown by faltering growth on exclusive breastfeeding does not manifest itself before four months, they may recommend solids rather than other milk, on the premise that this is less likely than bottles to hasten the cessation of any breastfeeding. I don't know what evidence, if any, there is for such a premise. I'm also fairly sure that when a four month old baby here shows signs of faltering growth that give rise to concern, a good focused look at the situation carried out by someone skilled at helping mothers and babies overcome problems with breastfeeding is the exception rather than the rule. The attitude is laissez-faire in favor of letting breastfeeding fall by the wayside because after all, four months is plenty long enough. After all, just a few years ago we were insisting that mothers introduce commercially prepared, sweetened, iron fortified cereals at four months, and threatening them with the spectre of brain-damaging anemia if they continued to fully breastfeed for six. A lot of the staff counseling mothers today have been working in the same jobs for decades and it takes more than a change in an official recommendation to change practice. Oddly enough my first child who was born in the US did not taste anything but my milk until she ate a piece of writing paper at six months, which was also when she was offered crisp flatbread made of full grain rye flour and water as her first official weaning food. She didn't express any curiosity about what we put in our mouths and in fact vehemently refused to taste things, so that we could go for Viennese cakes far into her second year and she would play happily with an ice cube while we indulged. The only things she liked were savory, preferably quite spicy and with some consistency. She was two years old before she discovered, on finally tasting it, that she liked chocolate ice cream. She continued this conservative approach throughout childhood though is more adventuresome now as an adult. Second child was exceedingly curious about our dealings with food from about two months. We never considered letting him experiment at that age, despite his very clear interest. But when he was four months we let him have a taste of something from the table which I mashed for him and he loved it so I continued for a few days. He started waking more at night so I stopped the solids and held him off for about another month. He weighed as much at four months as his sister had done at a year, despite being just one pound heavier at birth. He never needed a bib, never spit out anything he'd been offered, and never allowed us to spoon-feed him, preferring to do it himself. He was given pureed table foods for the most part, and commercial cereals which at the time were available without added sugar or milk, which is no longer the case here. At eight months he realized we were eating the same foods but without pureeing them and from that moment on he refused purees too. I do think the curiosity children first show about food and eating is more an expression of curiosity about the world around them than a conscious desire for a more varied diet. I wouldn't have let him taste a hot chili pepper to satisfy his curiosity, nor other foods that I would not want him to get a craving for. But I could select from our table those foods that are suitable weaning foods and offer those, and we let his response guide us further. I remember thinking how good it was that he was born second because we would have thought there was something wrong with our daughter if our first experience was with an omnivore who cleaned his plate, never threw food on the floor or massaged it into his hair or clothes, and was equally enthusiastic about pancakes, ratatouille, and salt herring at the age of two years. I know now that he was much less typical than she was. Our family has always given priority to mealtimes together, and to preparing food together, and both the children have acquired those customs. All Gill Rapley really says is that we can continue to practice on-cue, child-led feeding right through weaning and beyond. It is the adult's responsibility to see to it that weaning foods are appropriate, just as it is the adult's responsibility to see to it that the first food is appropriate, and then it is the child's prerogative to eat as much or as little of what is on offer, as their hunger dictates. It is really the same as on-cue breastfeeding. Her approach appeals to me because it is what I did myself and it worked for us, but also because it is cheaper and simpler than any other approach I know of. Now that my children are grown and I see that they have remained free of weight problems, body image disturbances and eating disorders, I am even more convinced that treating eating as you would treat any other physiological, development-contingent process, is by far the easiest and probably the best way to go. This goes for weaning, walking, getting out of diapers, talking, learning, all of it. When the child is ready to move on, it will do so. Rachel Myr Kristiansand, Norway Wondering how she ever managed without the baby timer gadget to tell her when the children needed attention !! *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome