This word is poorly defined in English. It comes from an old Scandinavian word, "wenian" which means "to accustom." Unfortunately, this is ambiguous: "Accustom to what?" one might ask. In Swedish, at least, two prefixes exist, which presumably have been lost in English. These can be used to indicate whether the speaker means "wean onto" or "wean away from." In English, "wean" is commonly used in four different ways: introduction of tastes of other foods, complementation of breast milk, replacement of breast milk and cessation of breastfeeding (some authors now use the French "sevrage" for this, but it implies a rapid cessation). To complicate matters, "wean" is also used for bottle fed babies. I have discussed all this and illustrate it with a graph in an article entitled "Sustained breastfeeding, complementation and care" which will appear in the September, 1995 issue of Food and Nutrition Bulletin put out by the United Nations University. In various presentations over the years I have argued that, because of this confusion, we should simply stop using the word "wean" and say more exactly what we mean instead. I am pleased to note during the past couple years that the World Health Organization seems to have done just that. Perhaps ILCA sould discuss it. Ted Greiner, PhD Senior Lecturer in International Nutrition Uppsala University 75185 Uppsala Sweden phone +46 - 18 511598 fax +46 - 18 515380 e-mail [log in to unmask]