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 The World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of
Pediatrics and other groups recommend exclusive breastfeeding for an
infant's first six months, after which solids can be introduced.
The new data come from the Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT) study,
which involved 1,303 infants and was designed to investigate whether
introducing solid foods earlier might help prevent food allergies.
The EAT study showed that introducing small amounts of allergenic
foods to younger babies helped reduce food allergy risks. The
American Academy of Pediatrics, the Australian government, and
others have changed their infant feeding guidelines to reflect the
findings, which were published in 2016.
Michael Perkin, of the Population Health Research Institute and St.
George's Hospital, both in London, said results from the new
analysis suggest that better sleep could be another benefit of
starting solids early.
As reported in JAMA Pediatrics, Perkin and his colleagues compared
infant sleep and mother's quality of life in the EAT study
participants. Infants in the early introduction group began solids
at about 16 weeks, on average, compared to 23 weeks in the standard
introduction group.
By five months, the babies who had started eating solids earlier
were sleeping longer than those whose mothers were instructed to
breastfeed exclusively for six months. The difference peaked at six
months of age, with the early introduction group sleeping an average
of nearly 17 minutes longer, and persisted after the infants' first
birthday. Infants who started solids early also woke up about nine
percent less often.
The "most clinically important" finding, Dr. Perkin said, was that
parents of babies who started earlier on solid foods were
significantly less likely to report that their child had a serious
sleep problem.
"There was an extremely strong relationship between mother's quality
of life and infant sleep, which you anticipate," he added. "If the
baby's sleeping poorly, the mother's quality of life is very clearly
affected."
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The findings provide some solid data to back up the long-held belief
that feeding infants solid food helps them sleep better, Dr. Jae
Kim, a neonatologist at of the University of California San Diego
and the Radey Children's Hospital of San Diego, told Reuters Health
in a phone interview. "This is quite a well-designed study to
actually answer that particular question," he said.
"When it comes to the recommendations for mothers and their
children, I think it's still important to try to aim for exclusive
breastfeeding for the first six months," he added.
When an infant's frequent nighttime wakeups are causing concern and
anxiety, parents can consult their pediatrician about whether
starting solid food would be appropriate, Dr. Kim said. But the
findings don't mean parents should feel free to give solid food to
infants younger than six months to improve their sleep, he added.
Early introduction of solids could cause harm in infants who aren't
developmentally ready to chew and swallow, he explained, while
starting solids can also lead to earlier weaning, reducing the
benefits of breastfeeding.
There's also the question of whether longer sleep is actually a good
thing for babies - although it clearly can be helpful for parents,
Kim noted. Babies who sleep more may wind up consuming less breast
milk, he added.
"There's a bit of polarization around this issue," he said. "It's
nice to have studies like this to carve out actual data to help
manage this problem."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2N2Buev JAMA Pediatrics, online July 9, 2018.
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