This post is for Cynthia Marske and others commenting on intro of solids and iron. This is a very simplistic way to look at nutrition. The baby needs nutrients of all kinds as she/he grows. Not only are iron stores depleted if they are not replaced but so are other minerals of which there are many and they each have essential functions in the body. By saying that iron stores are depleted at 6 mo and that is why we need to start solids is just an easy way to explain the many complex reactions in the body which need these minerals as a part of essential enzyme function and numerous other biopathways. Why is it that some people wait til 1 yr to start solids, others start at 5 months and still others go even longer. Most of these babies manage to stay pretty healthy. Why do we wait til 6 mo to start? The very best reason is that the pancreas does not produce the digestive enzymes needed for starch digestion until around 4 months, the birth iron stores begin to dwindle,(but not if the baby is being breastfed by a mom who is well nourished and has adequate B12, folic acid and iron..... So you can see that the real answer is that the situation is really complex. Personally I feel that as canned food, baby jars of food are not the most nutritious choice, so why not intro foods when the baby is able to sit at the table and get offered small amounts of the most nutritious food on the table---which is not fast food, take out food, or prepackaged food! That sure doesn't answer a whole lot, but sure raises a question about simplistic answers about a complex subject. Food for thought... Michelle Scott, RD,MA,IBCLC in NH where there's finally a good snow cover. ---------- From: Drmarske[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, January 29, 1998 1:19 AM Subject: Exclusively Breastfed babies for a prolonged period Hello, I have heard told by some of our pediatricians at our hospital that the only real need to introducing solids at any point is to increase the iron in the diet of the baby because by 6 mo to 1 year the iron stores the baby is born with in the liver, bone marrow and red blood cells starts to dwindle. The iron provided by the breastmilk or formula simply replaces iron that is lost on a daily basis or used for building more red blood cells. I suppose if the mother is not anemic and the baby took occassional iron containing finger foods they could thrive up to 2 yo on mainly breastmilk. In Mothering magazine they had an article in a recent volume that discussed highly allergic children and nursing them exclusively up to 2 yrs old and slowly introducing finger food to delay or avoid any sensitivity to allergic proteins etc. These children seemed to thrive and were not anemic or so not reported. Myself, my kids were following our every bite at 6 months of age. I don't know if I could have held them off any longer. Interesting antedotal experience. Cynthia S. Marske DO