This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Feeding at breast may reduce risk for otitis media, diarrhea among infants
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Breast-feeding could significantly reduce the risk for diarrhea and feeding at the breast instead of from a bottle or formula may reduce otitis media infections in infants, according to recent survey results published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
According to previous data, practices in infant feeding in developed countries have changed significantly in the last 2 decades. Infants are presently exposed to a number of feeding practices including breast milk or formula, or from bottle or breast. In the first 3 months’ postpartum, 54% of infants receive a combination of breast milk and formula via bottle or at the breast. Also, the composition of breast milk if delivered by bottle can be altered in the collection, storing, freezing and thawing practices. The bottle itself is at risk for microbial contamination if it is not cleaned properly.
“Prolonged and exclusive breast-feeding has been associated with improved infant immunologic status, including reduced otitis media and gastrointestinal illness,” Sarah A. Keim, PhD, MA, MS, from the Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote. “The bioactive components of breast milk, such as secretory [immunoglobulin A (IgA)] and IgG, play a role in supporting the developing immune system to fight infections.”
To examine the associations of substance and feeding delivery in infants with otitis media and diarrhea, Keim and colleagues mailed surveys to 813 women aged 18 years and older who had delivered full-term infants at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Questions included start and stop time for feeding at the breast and if feeding was exclusive to breast milk or a formula combination was involved. The researchers compared the associations between infant feeding practices and child health, and they used logistic and binomial regression models to predict outcomes in association with otitis media and diarrhea based on 1-, 3- and 6-month periods of feeding variables.
Of the completed questionnaires reviewed (n = 491), 106 babies were fed no formula during the first 6 months, and 49 were fed exclusively by bottle for the first year. In the no-formula subsample, expressed milk feeding of 6 months correlated strongly with otitis media development (adjusted OR = 2.15; 95% CI, 1.01-4.55).
Among all observations, infants fed at the breast for 6 months were associated with having less diarrhea (aOR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.54-0.89), while formula feeding for 6 months was associated with an increased risk for diarrhea (aOR = 1.19; 95% CI, 0.94-1.51).
“Our work extends these findings to common infant illnesses, otitis media and diarrhea, and further illustrates that feeding expressed milk may not be equivalent to feeding at the breast in its relationship to infant health,” the investigators wrote. “Larger studies … are needed to confirm that feeding at the breast is preferable to expressed milk feeding and that expressed milk feeding is preferable to formula feeding.” – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts