visit http://www.motheringdotcom/discussions/showthread.php?t=517730 Hetal replied. breastfeeding not only depends on baby but it actually depends more on mother ! because its the mother who produces milk and the receiver(baby) practically saying,, take anything mostly whatever is available for its survival !!..just like the way some babies are given formula when mothers are not able to produce good or even though nicely bf, their milk is not of the quality that can provide their babies all the benefits of bm !!!!

for bf,mom has to maintain stress free life,often needs a helping hand, eat very healthy diet and also on the top of all this has to sacrifice many aspects of daily life..

the reason why aap recommends to start solids from 6months onwards is because often its seen that the lifestyle of an average person in US is very demanding and it was seen that not all mothers could produce good quality milk and the amt as well, in order to satisfy their own babies ! apart from this, most mom get tired of unadequate sleep and whole days work to wake up at night and feed the required..in that sometimees babies also ask for unnecessary feeds,,it is at that time it dpends on babies!!!
but then, considering the goodness of bm and it being a powerful source of nutrition,,it has to be given atleast for 6months,,as until 6months babies are developing physically as well as mentally..its after 6months, most of their main body parts, are fully developed and then the secondary development starts...
so in order to make mothers try to give atleast 6months of bm or bf,most well known institutions like who,aap,lalacheleague and couple others,,support forcibly to bf until 6months.
however, they have clearly mentioned that there are no fixed boundaries or rules that you have to wean off your baby at certain time...,,
but often 80% of babies have shown lack of interest in bf from 6months onwards,,and were demanding solids,,like you must have read in the same link you mentioned,,how babies were coming forward to eat !! one of the reason that babies show that because they dont get enough from their moms,,which explains their desire to drink or eat something else for their survival..what would you do when you end up being in a restaurant where there are no seat,and a big line,,often a wise person will moveon to the other restaurant,,because you are hungry :)) just like that,,when babies get enough from their mothers in all aspects,quality n quantity,,its prettty much obvious that this baby will not ask for ne solids or not even accept it at ne moment of time, until he is getting a ready made food !
however,,its also seen in the weight and development of the baby whether or not he is getting enough !! so not only all babies are differnt, but all mom milk supply,by quality and quantity, is differnt !!!

and there are some 20% babies,,who were always milk babies. no matter how good they were in solids,,they always thrived for bf or bm...and they would not mind skipping their meals and drink more of bm/bf or even formula !!

however, the concept of weaning came from the research that show around 90% babies lack interest in bf, from 9months to 1 year onwards..
studies have shown that often after that babies dont get good milk from their mothers....so it is ok if you plan to wean off !
nothing wrong,wat is the point to prolong an activity that is going to become a habit!! and not giving your baby ne good...
some contradictory studies say(dpnding on surveys n research) that often babies who are bf longer than 1 year, get more attached to sucking breast then the actual breastfeeding(sucking the milk)..they will do that even if milk is not coming out of the nipples ! which is a habit and not a good sign !!! so weaning is expected netime from 1 year onwards to 2 years,,
before toddlers make it a bad habit and mother get tired of it,,its expected on general terms to give up if you are not giving good quality or qty..
however,some mother have njoyed bf until their toddlers were 3 years of age..and they still didnt want to leave it and their toddlers were also fine bf !!!! surprising it sounds, but they always said that they waited for night time to come to bf their kids !!!
their milk supply was almost next to nill however had not stopped totally,,so their kids were inclined to get something from it !!! which is always good for their health..

however, there have been cases of exclusive bf like you mentioned here,,these are found around 1 in every 30 cases in US and outside US !!!! including india as well..and often these were the people who got good support from family for bf and have maintained their health,n diet and after all that, their bodies were able to produce good milk with good quality that a baby needs at various stages of life.so, their drs were not worried in starting solids early or even at 1 year...

inspite of al the goodness of bf, some babies were found malnutrition and slow in achieving in milestones,, when they were exclusively and kind of forcibly bf for more than 6,7,8months(jst because mothers wanted to bf and didnt understand that even though their milk supply was good, their babies were actually not getting enough nutrients from it),,result after 8-9months their babies struggled to gain weight and even if the fat levels in their bm were good to keep them good at weight,they looked chubby and heavy,,, the other nutrients were missing,,further making them go slow on progressing or achieving milestones.....

thats how your ped always checks your baby weight, his growth, and then he tells you whether or not he is ready for solids !! some in case from 4th mnth onward and others in case of 6months onwwards...it all depnds on health of the mother and whether or not she is able to supply good(ideal) milk as desired by her own baby..
some mothers didnt want to prolong bf as they were not producing enough,,their reason were as below : not able to make itup to cook adequATE diet, improper feeding schedules due to lack of continuous guidance, lack of support from family, demanding lifestyle making them stressed out thus resulting less milk supply, demanding husband(who wants women body to given up totally including breast during the love-making), and some because of their work profiles or timings...so these women wanted to wean off thier baby or atleast reduce the bf n start solids..
further,it explains us,that there is not one factor that is associated with proving bf..infact many,and surprisingly all related to mother !!!

some like me wanted to wean off for planning a second baby,,hwever its a diff issue that i was healthy enough to provide my 1st baby my bm upto 3 full months of my pregnancy..
in the link above,,, the mother should have been very healthy mom and must be having a good support from family and a good helper around.which explains why she succeeded and i must say hatss off to mothers who try their best in bf their babies as longer as they can..

the key is they should not get tired of waking at nights and their babies should get all the goodness of it !!!
so thats all from me !! gosh. i wrote a lot,,sry about that. Rebecca replied. If I got the right thread (I got exclusive breastfeeding for 1 year - no solids), then, Yes, it is possible. The American academy of pediatrics recommends introducing solids between 6 and 9 months. While many doctors recommend starting at 6 months and some sooner, there is no evidence that these dates are musts. There are some mothers and doctors who believe that exclusive breastfeeding for a year is not problematic. My feeling about this is that it depends on the baby. Breastmilk has more calories and is more nutritious than just about any solids we may introduce. The iron in breastmilk is also more easily absorbed by babies than iron in foods or iron fortified foods. The fact is that breastmilk is just great nutrition. If a baby continues to thrive on breastmilk, then continuing exclusive breastfeeding probably isn't a bad thing. My understanding from what I have read though, is that some babies will need the addition of solids (for example if they are breastfeeding like crazy but still seem hungry or are not gaining weight) or iron fortified foods. What I take from this is that if your baby is happy, healthy, producing ample wet and soiled diapers and is meeting milestones, but is not interested in solids at 6, 7, 8 months, there is no reason to freak out.