Sick of It

I'm tired of reading things that undermine breastfeeding.  Update: full info on study here. Saying a breastfeeding child needs certain vitamins because breastmilk is low in those.  Low in comparison to what?  Formula?  So the milk that a mother's body makes, that is specifically designed for her child and changes with her child according to the child's needs isn't good enough, but milk from another species is?!  Kellymom has a great post about iron levels and why most breastfed infants are not anaemic. There's a lot of good breastfeeding info on that site, and I highly recommend it.  It's certainly come in handy for me over the years.


Now, I agree that some children may be ready for/need complementary foods prior to 6 months.  This seems like common sense, really.  Just as babies roll over, sit up, talk, crawl, walk, etc at different times, so they are ready for food at different times, with some being ready a little before 6 months (wouldn't think it would be very much prior to that, though), and some are closer to a year before needing solid foods.  C was definitely ready around 5 months.  I'd planned on waiting until she was 6 months, but she was developmentally ready before then, as shown by the fact that she was sitting up well unaided, had lost the tongue-thrust reflex, had the pincer grasp, and was obviously interested in foods.  We follow baby-led weaning, so we followed her cues, and then gave her the same things we were eating, just cut into chunks large enough for her to handle easily.  She didn't actually eat much, if any, of it at first, but gnawed on the foods and explored the tastes and textures.

I also think the article's argument for weaning before 6 months by stating that a child will reject green vegetables if they aren't introduced before then is rather flimsy.  If the mother is eating those things, some of the flavour will be retained in the breast milk. The child will also see those foods being eaten by the family, and can be given them when weaning commences.  Introducing them prior to 6 months, though, is certainly no guarantee that the child will like them as he gets older.  If it was a guarantee, then K would love broccoli now, since he was given that before 6 months, but he won't touch it now.  (side note - K did have solid foods too early and had bad eczema as a result).  So far C eats just about anything except for green beans and Brussels sprouts, though.

Edit to add: I also wanted to add that a baby's iron stores should be increased with delayed cord clamping, so the baby can receive more of the blood.

For a more uplifting note, here's a nice article.

H/T to Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths, who also found that 3 of the 4 authors of the study in the first article admitted to being associated with formula companies, and to The Analytical Armadillo.