Hi Linda Pohl: When to feed babies solids has always been an interesting topic to me, b/c of babies who don't want to eat until they're older (6-15 months old). I worry about iron deficiency anemia, b/c I was taught in my residency that babies outgrow the iron available to them in mother's milk. I encourage moms in my practice to definitely try to get their babies to take a little cereal off of a spoon by 6 months, but occasionally there is a baby who will have none of it. In my practice, I check for anemia with a hemoglobin test at 9 months old. This is an indirect measurement of iron stores in the body. My cut-off is also 10.5, b/c that is the number I was taught to use. When the author describes children in this table, he says they are well nourished, but does not say if they were/are breastfed. So we may well have a bias here. There certainly are going to be some children below the magic number of 10.5 who are normal and will be smart. OF course, that is the threat we hold over our patients' heads: if you don't give your baby this iron or this cereal, s/he may lose IQ points and may not be as intelligent. Let's not forget how biased the IQ test is either, or that these hemoglobin levels are based on white children. I really think the best answer to your question is that someone needs to do a study on this topic. Second topic: that mom's pediatrician needs to do a little reading. Then s/he will find that this is most likely a benign condition, as long as their is no pubic hair or progression. As usual, mom's instincts are right. Sincerely, Terry Terry Lynn Dise, MD [log in to unmask]