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The relationship between breast-feeding and early childhood morbidity in a general population
C van den Bogaard1, H J van den Hoogen, F J Huygen
1Department of Family Medicine, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Insights
Breast-feeding is linked to reduced illness in young children. Longer breast-feeding duration correlated with fewer sickness episodes and specific illnesses in the first three years of life.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Childhood morbidity poses a significant public health concern.
- Understanding the impact of infant feeding practices on child health is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between breast-feeding duration and early childhood morbidity.
- To determine if breast-feeding offers protective health benefits against common childhood illnesses.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective data collection via questionnaires from parents of 1,347 children.
- Morbidity data sourced from the Continuous Morbidity Registration system.
- Analysis of breast-feeding duration categorized into multiple intervals.
Main Results:
- Two-thirds of children studied were breast-fed.
- An inverse relationship was observed between breast-feeding duration and childhood morbidity.
- Adjusted analyses confirmed that longer breast-feeding was associated with fewer illness episodes and specific diseases.
Conclusions:
- Breast-feeding demonstrates modest health benefits for children in the Netherlands.
- The protective effect of breast-feeding against morbidity is most pronounced in the first year of life but extends to three years.
- Findings support public health initiatives promoting breast-feeding for improved child health outcomes.
Abstract:
This study investigated the relationship between breast-feeding and early childhood morbidity. Data on morbidity had been recorded in the Continuous Morbidity Registration of the Department of Family Medicine of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, since 1967. Information on early childhood feeding was collected retrospectively by questionnaires mailed to the parents of all the children; the response rate was 94%. Exposure and outcome data of 1,347 children were available for analyses. Duration of breast-feeding was categorized as follows: 0 days (no breast-feeding), 1-14 days, 15-30 days, 31-90 days, 91-180 days, and more than 180 days. Two thirds of the children had been breast fed. Generally there was an inverse relationship between breast-feeding and morbidity. This was most prominent in the first year of life but was also present in the first three years. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, duration of breast-feeding was associated with fewer morbidity episodes and lower rates of several specific illnesses during the first three years of life. The findings suggest some modest health benefits of breast-feeding for children in the Netherlands.