Vestergaard
M, Obel C, Henriksen TB, Sorensen HT, Skajaa E, Ostergaard
J. Duration of breastfeeding and developmental milestones
during the latter half of infancy. Acta Paediatrica
88: 1327-1332, 1999.
Studies
have suggested that breastfeeding may have a positive
effect on long-term brain development. Researchers in
Denmark studied 1'656 infants at the age of 8 months
to determine whether breastfeeding affected mental development
below the age of 1 year. Three developmental milestones
were measured: crawling, pincer grip, and polysyllable
babbling. Duration of breastfeeding was classified according
to the number of months of exclusive breastfeeding.
The results showed that 38.8% of the 7-month olds could
babble in polysyllables. 93.7% of the mothers had exclusively
breastfed their children for at least 1 month, with
65.7 % continuing until 4 months. The proportion of
children who had mastered the milestones increased consistently
with increased duration of exclusive breastfeeding.
For example, 73.4% of babies who were exclusively breastfed
for 6 months or more were polysyllable babblers versus
48.5 % of babies who had been exclusively breastfed
for only 1 month. There was little or no confounding
from various factors like family social status, mother's
education, gestational age or mother's employment.
The
authors believe that the causal relation between breastfeeding
and brain development has major public health implications
and should be explored further.
Smulevich
VB, Solionova LG, Belyakova SV. Parental occupation
and other factors and cancer risk in children: I. Study
methodology and non-occupational factors, International
Journal of Cancer 83: 712-717. 1999.
Increasingly,
research is concentrating on the long term effects of
infant feeding practices. A study carried out in Moscow
was designed to determine whether both occupational
and non-occupational factors were associated with childhood
cancers. In this first part of the study factors other
than occupational were analyzed with relation to the
occurrence of childhood cancers.
Factors
which did not show any association included smoking
habits of the parents, parental alcohol consumption,
and educational and socio-economic status of the parents.
Factors which had some association with cancers included
pathology during pregnancy, cancers in parents and grandparents,
and duration of breastfeeding. When the duration of
breastfeeding was not longer than 1 month the risk of
all cancers, leukemias and non-Hodgkins' lymphoma were
higher. There was a 7-fold increase for all cancers
when the child was breastfed less than one month compared
with those breastfed for 12 months or longer.
Chen
CH, Wang TM, Chang HM, Chi CS. The effect of breast-
and bottle-feeding on oxygen saturation and body temperature
in preterm infants, Journal of Human Lactation
16(1): 21-27, 2000.
Authors
of a study carried out in Taiwan explain that Eastern
health workers believe that Chinese preterm infants
need to bottle-feed for a long time because they are
too fragile to breastfeed. In order to respond to this
myth researchers compared the oxygen saturation, heart
rate, respiratory rate and body temperature of 25 preterm
infants during bottle- and breastfeeding. A comparison
of breast and bottle- feeding of the same infant was
made once the infant could latch on and feed effectively.
The results showed that oxygen saturation and body temperature
were significantly higher during breastfeeds than during
bottle-feeds. Pulse and respiratory rates were also
higher while breastfeeding. There were two episodes
of apnea (breath pause longer than 20 seconds) and 20
episodes of oxygen desaturation (PaO2<90%) during bottle-feeding,
but not during breastfeeding.
The
authors conclude that "for Eastern preterm infants,
breastfeeding is a more physiologically beneficial feeding
method... and that culture, race and preterm delivery
should not be an excuse for post-poning breastfeeding".
Fomon
SJ, Ekstrand J. Fluoride intake by infants, Journal
of Public Health Dentistry 59: 229-234, 1999.
Too
high an intake of fluoride in infancy is associated
with fluorosis of the secondary teeth. This problem
can be of major importance in communities with low breastfeeding
rates and fluoridized local water supply. Researchers
in the USA analyzed the fluoride intake of infants with
various feeding regimes. The fluoride content of human
milk ranges from 5-10 µg/l. Artificial baby milks are
sold in several forms: ready-to-feed-liquid, concentrate,
and powders. The fluoride content in these formulas
can vary widely, usually depending upon the fluoride
content in the water used to dilute them. Until 1978,
manufacturers produced the infant formulas with local
water supplies the fluoride content of which was often
very high. Since then manufacturers have removed the
major part of the fluoride of local water supplies in
manufacturing the products. However, for the powder
form of formulas, parents use unmodified local water
to prepare the formula and the fluoride content can
be as high as 980 µg/l . In order to reduce the risk
of fluoridosis, the authors recommend that infant formulas
not be prepared from fluoridated water and no fluoride
supplements be given.
McVea
KLSP, Turner PD, Peppler DK. The role of breastfeeding
in sudden infant death syndrome, Journal of Human
Lactation 16(1): 13-20, 2000.
A
meta-analysis of 23 studies meeting the inclusion criteria
showed that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS) on average by half. Although
the studies try to reduce the effect of confounding
factors, reduced risk of SIDS in breastfed infants may
be affected by other parental or environmental factors,
as well as by breastfeeding.
