|
 Pediatricians recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed infants
until they’re at least six months of age because it can reduce
babies’ risk of SIDS as well as ear and respiratory infections,
allergies, childhood obesity and diabetes. But research to date
hasn’t offered a clear picture of exactly how long women need to
nurse their infants to protect against SIDS, said John Thompson,
lead author of the current study and a pediatrics researcher at the
University of Auckland.
“The peak age of SIDS is two to four months, so breastfeeding may
need to continue into this apparently more vulnerable period to
incur the protective effect,” Thompson said by email.
SIDS has become much less common in recent decades as doctors have
urged parents to put infants to sleep on their backs without pillows
or other soft bedding and toys that could pose a suffocation risk.
But it still remains a leading cause of infant mortality.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how breastfeeding directly prevents SIDS. However, it’s possible
that breast milk helps boost babies’ immune systems and lower the
risk of infections that can lead to SIDS, doctors say.
For the study, researchers examined data from eight previously
published studies with a total of 2,267 SIDS cases and 6,837 babies
who didn’t die in their sleep.
Compared to babies who were not breastfed at all, SIDS was 40
percent less likely in infants who were breastfed at least some of
the time for two to four months, researchers report in Pediatrics.
Any breastfeeding for four to six months was associated with a 60
percent lower risk of SIDS, and nursing babies at least some of the
time for six months or longer was linked to 64 percent lower odds of
SIDS.
Exclusive breastfeeding for less than two months didn’t appear to
protect against SIDS. But exclusive breastfeeding for two to four
months was associated with 39 percent lower odds of SIDS, and four
to six months was linked to 54 percent lower odds.
It’s not clear why breastfeeding didn’t appear to have a protective
effect when the duration was less than two months, said Dr. Jeffrey
Colvin, a pediatrics researcher at Children's Mercy Kansas City in
Missouri who wasn’t involved in the study.
[to top of second column] |
“We knew that breastfeeding was associated with decreased risk of
SIDS and that exclusive breast feeding seemed to impart even greater
protection,” Colvin said by email. “I now know the absolute minimum
duration of breastfeeding I must reach with every newborn.”
One limitation of the current study, however, is that it’s unclear
why exclusive breastfeeding didn’t appear more protective than
breastfeeding just some of the time and supplementing with baby
formula, the authors note. The smaller studies in the analysis
didn’t have information on families’ social and economic status, and
this might influence both which babies are exclusively breastfed and
which infants get SIDS, the researchers point out.
Parent involvement might also influence breastfeeding and SIDS risk,
said Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine in
Hershey who wasn’t involved in the study.
“I believe parent behaviors are paramount in preventing SIDS,” Paul
said by email. “Breastfed infants are likely to have more sustained
and frequent interactions with their parents during the night at the
key ages when SIDS is most likely to occur.”
There are many reasons to breastfeed babies exclusively for six
months and then continue nursing them until age one, said Dr. Lori
Feldman-Winter, a pediatrics researcher at Cooper Medical School of
Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey, who wasn’t involved in the
study.
“SIDS protection is simply one outcome,” Feldman-Winter said by
email. “Exclusivity is important for infection protection, obesity
prevention, and to decrease diseases linked to autoimmunity, such as
Crohn's. Duration is also important for appropriate growth,
continued protection from infections such as gastroenteritis.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lqilKF Pediatrics, online October 30, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
