extended exclusive breastfeeding may not be helpful

[tatt]

Can't imagine many people who don't introduce some other food by 9 months so it would be very hard to study further.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125634.400?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19125634.400

[threebob]

I have thought about this and surely it's the cart before the horse - a baby who is allergic is more likely to reject solids and thus be one of the ones still exclusively breastfeeding.

I read an article the other day that said that people from Dunedin were likely to get something or other and it said that it was the lack of sunlight - people in scotland were similarly affected. Erm, well Dunedin was colonised by the Scottish - so maybe it's genes and lack of sunlight as whatever it was the Nordic people were not affected.

[FrannyandZooey]

Oh of course threebob, I couldn't work this out at all. As I said on the other thread, I know several people who haven't moved their babies onto solids at 6 months, because the children were not interested / refused. Of course it's likely that those children are going to be refusing food as a self-protective measure against allergies.

[threebob]

Ages ago one poster said that all the breastfed children she knew were sick and had loads of allergies - and I pointed out that maybe their mums breastfed them because they were sickly - not that they were sickly before they breastfed.

I think with cause and effect we have to be sure we have them the right way around.

[Heartmum2Jamie]

I have no idea what to think, but am getting a tad fed up of being blamed for ds's allergies. Ds2 was exclusively breastfed until he was 8 months. I tried dolids from 5 months on the advice of the HV & GP, but he just wouldn't take to it. It took a week of being hospitalised with the dietician and play therapist working intensively with him to get him to eat. As he was so underweight, they added butter to all his food. They didn't start gradually and gave him anything and everything that he would eat. should I perhaps blame their approach for ds's allergies?

Like Threebob said, I continued to breastfeed as by 6 months, my baby was poorly, classed as failure to thrive and undergoing lots of tests at the hospital.

[threebob]

It's a shame that they didn't add olive oil to everything instead of butter. But then nappy rash cream has peanut oil in it, and paediatric medicine often has unsuitable incredients in (why put wheat, aspartame and colourings in stuff that you give to the under 1s?).

Ds didn't really eat solids until 8/9 months either, and my milk was deffo his main food until a year (as it should be). He is still allergic to heaps of things, but most of his eczema has cleared and his sleep has improved so it's just avoiding things.