speech: sudies have been done, i believe by john hopkins university that bf enhances speech development..the tongue is a muscle and the more you use and develop it the better it will work. other developemntal issues: with all things in life, wach person reaches the same place at different times. one child needs o be held and carried for 2 years before heshe is ready to "let go" and explore on his/her own, another is down and running at 9 months...each has his/her own internal clock. if will allow each child to fill its need to be held, comforted they will grow into independence. I liken this to the cup theory, when the cup is full we will move onto the next one. we each though will fill the cup in our own time. patricia