Can anyone point me in the direction of the actual research that led to the 6 month weaning guidelines?

[MrsVorkosigan]

And because I know it's an emotive subject on this board, my daughter will be 6 months in 2 weeks time and all she's ever had so far is breast milk. I'm just curious to read the reasons why the guidelines changed and would like to read the science behind it.

Thanks!

Do they say babies should be weaned at 6 months now?
Never knew that.
(I'm all for weaning when you and your baby are ready rather than according to this week's science)

if you search for posts by wellimum, terramum and tiktok , you will find lots of research

and victoriansqualor explains it all very well too

it is not this weeks science, it has been so for a good while now

Here's one:

Chantry CJ, Howard CR, Auinger P. Full breastfeeding duration and associated decrease in respiratory tract infection in US children. Pediatrics. 2006 Feb;117(2):425-32..

You can see the WHO publications on infant nutrition herewhich has references as to why they make their recommendations.

Sorry. I misunderstood the question.
I thought it meant that babies should be weaned at 6 months and not BF for longer.

Why thankyou lulu

I just followed up one of the WHO links (to a summary of some expert meeting in 2001), and here's a sort of summary of what it says:

A systematic review of current scientific evidence on the optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding identified and summarized studies comparing exclusive breastfeeding* for 4 to 6 months, versus 6 months, in terms of growth, infant iron status, morbidity, atopic disease, motor development, postpartum weight loss, and amenorrhea. It should be noted that the review was based on two small controlled trials and 17 observational studies that varied in both quality and geographic provenance.

The evidence does not suggest an adverse effect of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months on infant growth on an overall population basis, i.e. on average. The sample sizes were insufficient, however, to rule out an increased risk of growth faltering in some infants who are exclusively breastfed for 6 months, particularly in populations with severe maternal malnutrition and a high prevalence of intrauterine growth retardation.

Basic summary:

• Poorer iron status in infants exclusively breastfed for 6 months, versus 4 months; likely to apply where maternal iron status poor
• Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months has protective effects against gastrointestinal infection (in a ?developed world? setting ? not just ?developing world?)
• No evidence of protective effect against respiratory tract infection (including otitis media) or atopic disease
• Not clear on neuro-motor development
• Periods are postponed for longer for mothers
• Greater post-partum weight loss for mothers
• In developing country settings the most important advantage relates to infectious diseas

Expert summary: ?the Expert Consultation concludes that exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months confers several benefits on the infant and the mother. However, exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months can lead to iron deficiency in susceptible infants. In addition, the available data are insufficient to exclude several other potential risks with exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, including growth faltering and other micronutrient deficiencies, in some infants. In all circumstances, these risks must be weighed against the benefits provided by exclusive breastfeeding, especially the potential reduction in morbidity and mortality.?

littlefrog! I hope you have your head below the parapet..... Glad you put that info in quotes.....

The idea is that babies have open guts - the walls are kind of leaky to allow milk to be easily absorbed. Once they are ready for solids, the gut walls close, like an older child's or adults. Feed a baby with an open gut solids and particles of food will pass straight through into the bloodstream without being digested, which seems to increase the risk of allergies.

Basically a young baby's gut is designed to digest milk, not solids. Early weaning is a blip in the history of babycare.

There are loads of references at the end of this article, is that what you were looking for?

gagarin i know! i don't tend to get involved with these things at all, but I've wondered about this as well, and it was interesting seeing what the WHO actually said about it (lots of people seem to take WHO's name in vain, if you see what I mean...)
Am now running away to sew quietly, like Real Mothers Do (ie not play on the computer all the time, which is what I usually do...)

if you look up stuff that gill rapley's done about baby led weaning that explains it too.

hmm the kellymom links if you follow each one and look at the references,should give you a very solid idea why the recommendation is in place - it'll take you all afternoon though!