Breast-fed infants need extra vitamin D

Monday, April 7, 2003 Posted: 10:07 AM EDT (1407 GMT)
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics says all exclusively breast-fed infants should receive vitamin D supplements to prevent rickets, a bone-weakening disease doctors fear may be becoming more common.

Breast-fed infants should receive vitamin supplements beginning at 2 months of age and until they begin taking at least 17 ounces daily of vitamin D-fortified milk, the academy says in a new policy statement.

BREAST-FEEDING

Breast-Feeding Linked to IQ Gain
                   Study Ties Adult Intelligence to Nutrition in Infancy

                   By Marc Kaufman
                   Washington Post Staff Writer
                   Wednesday, May 8, 2002; Page A01

                   Infants breast-fed for nine months grew up to be significantly
                   more intelligent than infants breast-fed for one month or less,
                   according to a study published in today's Journal of the
                   American Medical Association.

                   "We are really quite certain that what we are seeing here is
                   the effect of the duration of breast-feeding on an individual's
                   intelligence," 

                   "The evidence is growing that breast-feeding is among the most important lifelong benefits a mother can
                   give to her child," she said.

                    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A protein present in breast milk has been
                    found to stimulate the immune system in mice and is likely to perform a similar
                    function in people, according to a report in the January 16th issue of the
                    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites).

                    ``We have known the benefits breast milk provides to newborns for many
                    decades, (including) growth factors, nutrition, and passive protection or
                    passive immunity to infections. This means that antibodies produced by the
                    mother in response to illness-causing microbes that she has encountered, are
                    passed to the baby in her milk and help protect the baby from the same
                    microbes the baby is very likely to come in contact with,'' Julius said.

                NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A lack of confidence, rather than a lack of knowledge, may lead low-income women to
                quit breast-feeding, results of a study suggest.

                Because experts recognize that breast milk is the best nutrition source for infants and offers many advantages over formula,
                the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) last year set as a target that half of US newborns should
                be breast-fed for 6 months.

                    By Suzanne Rostler

                    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Encouraging new mothers to breastfeed can reduce the chances that a baby
                    will develop allergies, eczema and infection in their first year of life, study findings indicate.

                    And the payoff of the program was significant. Infants whose mothers were still breastfeeding at 12 months had
                    a 40% lower risk of developing gastrointestinal tract infections and a 46% lower risk of atopic eczema, a scaly
                    red rash that is allergy-related.

                    ``For mothers who work, that may involve breastfeeding at work or expressing breast milk and having it fed by
                    cup or bottle,'' he said.

      NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low birthweight infants who are breast-fed
      or given breast milk in a bottle appear to have slightly higher IQs at ages 7
      and 8 compared with similar children who are not given breast milk, a new
      study suggests.... The longer the duration of breastfeeding the greater impact on IQ scores, the researchers report. Those
      children fed breast milk for 8 months or longer had verbal IQ scores 6 points higher than those who did not
      receive breast milk.... Currently, 64% of US women try breast-feeding their newborn, but only 29% are still
      breast-feeding 6 months later. The rates are particularly low among poor women and among African Americans.
      SOURCE: Archives of       Disease in Childhood, Fetal Neonatal Edition 2001;84:F23-F27.
 

Breast-Feeding May Protect Against Asthma
Monday November 20, 2000 5:33 PM ET

                    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breast-fed children are less likely than
                    others to have asthma or wheezing disorders, results of a study of more than
                    5,000 Brazilian schoolchildren indicate.

                    Ninety percent of the children had been breast-fed. Those who had not been
                    breast-fed were about 1.5 times more likely to have asthma, 1.3 times more
                    likely to experience wheeziness, and 1.5 times more likely to wheeze after
                    exercise than those who had been breast-fed for at least 6 months.

 NEW YORK, Mar 29,2000 (Reuters Health) --  Now from British and Dutch researchers, comes word that breast-fed babies also tend to be healthier adults. That's the conclusion of a study published in the Archives of Disease in
 Childhood.  ``Exclusive breastfeeding seems to have a protective effect against some risk factors for cardiovascular disease in later life,'' according to Dr. J.H.P. van der Meulen of Southampton General Hospital in the UK, and colleagues there and at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The bottle-fed group also had less-than-satisfactory levels of cholesterol, indicating an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

The authors note that ``bottle-fed babies have a different hormonal response'' compared with breast-fed babies, particularly in
insulin response. The team also suggests that the fat content in breast milk may help protect against overfeeding and point to animal studies indicating that growth factors and other hormones contained in breast milk may affect the metabolism of cholesterol and related fatty substances in the body.

Wednesday September 22, 99  6:27 PM ET

Breastfeeding linked to higher IQ

(Quoted from Reuters)

                    By Suzanne Rostler

                    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Results of a new study may give women one more reason to breastfeed: they
                    could be helping their baby avoid heart disease and stroke later in life.

                    In a study of 216 children who were born prematurely, consuming breastmilk in the first months of life was
                    associated with lower blood pressure at ages 13 to 16.

                    CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Breast-feeding moms who like to curl up with
                    a cup of herbal tea may want to take a good hard look at the list of
                    ingredients on their product of choice. Some herbs are perfectly fine for
                    nursing moms, while others may be toxic or reduce milk supply, according to
                    a pediatrician from Rochester, New York.

                    What's more, even herbs promoted as a natural way to boost milk
                    production--such as those in mother's milk tea--may have hidden dangers,
                    said Dr. Ruth Lawrence, of the University of Rochester, on Tuesday at the American Academy of Pediatrics
                    meeting here.