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http://adc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/archdischild;88/3/224

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Collections under which this article appears: Other respiratory infections Breastfeeding and infant nutrition Infants

Archives of Disease in Childhood 2003;88:224-228
© 2003 BMJ Publishing Group & Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
 

Breast feeding and respiratory morbidity in infancy: a birth cohort study

W H Oddy², P D Sly¹, N H de Klerk¹, L I Landau³, G E Kendall¹, P G Holt¹ and F J Stanley¹

¹ Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, WA, 6872 Australia
² Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science, Curtin University of Technology, WA, 6845 Australia
³ Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Australia, WA, 6872 Australia

Correspondence to:
Dr W H Oddy, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, PO Box 855, West Perth 6872, Western Australia, Australia;
wendyo@ichr.uwa.edu.au

Aim: To examine the relation between the duration of breast feeding and morbidity as a result of respiratory illness and infection in the first year of life.

Methods: Prospective birth cohort study of 2602 live born children ascertained through antenatal clinics at the major tertiary obstetric hospital in Perth, Western Australia. Main outcome measures were hospital, doctor, or clinic visits, and hospital admissions for respiratory illness and infection in the first year of life. Main exposure measures were the duration of predominant breast feeding (defined as the age other milk was introduced) and partial (any) breast feeding (defined as the age breast feeding was stopped). Main confounders were gender, gestational age less than 37 weeks, smoking in pregnancy, older siblings, maternal education, and maternal age.

Results: Hospital, doctor, or clinic visits for four or more upper respiratory tract infections were significantly greater if predominant breast feeding was stopped before 2 months or partial breast feeding was stopped before 6 months. Predominant breast feeding for less than six months was associated with an increased risk for two or more hospital, doctor, or clinic visits and hospital admission for wheezing lower respiratory illness. Breast feeding for less than eight months was associated with a significantly increased risk for two or more hospital, doctor, or clinic visits or hospital admissions because of wheezing lower respiratory illnesses.

Conclusions: Predominant breast feeding for at least six months and partial breast feeding for up to one year may reduce the prevalence and subsequent morbidity of respiratory illness and infection in infancy.

Keywords: breast feeding; respiratory illness; respiratory infection; infant

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