News Release

Study finds full breastfeeding for six months boosts baby's resistance to respiratory illnesses

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of California - Davis Health

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Babies who are fully breastfed for six months are less likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses than babies fully breastfed for only four months, according to research conducted by investigators at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, the University of Rochester and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Child Health Research.

The research findings are being presented May 6 at the annual joint meeting of the 2002 Pediatric Academic Societies and American Academy of Pediatrics in Baltimore, Md.

Caroline Chantry, UC Davis School of Medicine assistant professor of pediatrics, led an analysis of a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 2,277 children between the ages of 6 and 24 months. She identified five groups – formula-fed only, full breastfeeding for less than one month, full breastfeeding from one to four months, full breastfeeding from four to less than six months and full breastfeeding for six months or more. Full breastfeeding allows for the use of formula on less than a daily basis.

Chantry then looked at the percent of children in each group who experienced pneumonia, wheezing, and recurrent (three or more) colds or ear infections. The results were adjusted for age, birth weight, ethnicity, poverty, two-parent household, parental education, family size, child care and prenatal smoke exposure.

“What we found was that infants fully breastfed for six months had a significantly lower risk for respiratory infections in the first two years, when compared with babies who were fully breastfed four months,” said Chantry. “Specifically, the chance of contracting pneumonia was reduced fivefold with two additional months of full breastfeeding while the risk of recurrent ear infections was minimized twofold.”

The study is the first to demonstrate that an additional two months of full breastfeeding – from four months to six months – substantially increases an infant’s protection against pneumonia and recurrent ear infections.

“This finding, coupled with the proven increased protection babies receive against gastrointestinal infections, adds to the mounting evidence that the longer a mother breastfeeds her infant, the greater the health benefits,” she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended exclusive breastfeeding for a baby’s first six months of life since 1997.

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Co-authoring the study with Chantry were Cynthia R. Howard, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.; and Peggy Auinger, American Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Child Health Research, Rochester, N.Y.

Copies of all news releases from UC Davis Health System are available on the Web at http://news.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu


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