Infant nutrition--from professional to personal

The author, an experienced paediatric dietitian, describes what it was like breast-feeding and weaning her first baby and how she has modified her previous professional views of infant feeding in the light of her own experience. As a result, she makes some pragmatic recommendations for helping new mothers. She urges health professionals to be more realistic about the difficulties as well as the rewards of breast-feeding and to provide more practical support for breast-feeding mothers. She would like all new mothers to have the opportunity to stay in a supported setting--not necessarily a hospital--while breast-feeding is established. She recommends finding neutral ways to ensure that all health professionals keep up to date about all aspects of infant nutrition, including infant formulae. She suggests a flexible approach to when weaning starts, since all babies are different and reach developmental milestones at different ages. Advice on weaning is often lacking or conflicting, and needs to be more structured with good quality practical information and leaflets. Finally, the author recommends that babies have meals with the family from an early age, for both social and nutritional reasons.