Breastfeeding could reduce the risk of eczema in children, according to new research into the impact of programmes designed to support new mothers in feeding their babies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that babies should be fed just breast milk for six months to help protect them from infection, prevent allergies and provide nutrients and energy.
But many women abandon the practice soon after the birth of their child – a situation often put down to a lack of support for new mothers. The UK, for example, has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with just 1% of infants exclusively breastfed for their first six months.
Experts say the latest study highlights the benefits of breast milk, and of programmes promoting the practice, finding that children whose mothers attended a hospital where a breastfeeding support programme was implemented had a 54% reduction in the risk of eczema as teenagers.
“It seems that we can say from the trial that clearly promoting exclusively breastfeeding is beneficial, but there doesn’t seem to be an additional benefit of doing that beyond the first three months of life with regard to the protective effect on eczema in adolescence,” said Carsten Flohr, co-author of the study from King’s College London.
Writing in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, Flohr and colleagues describe how they began the study in the 1990s in Belarus, where 31 maternity hospitals – and one outpatient clinic linked to each hospital – were randomly assigned to one of two groups: either to carry on as usual or take part in a breastfeeding programme. These schemes train nurses, midwives and doctors to encourage and support mothers to breastfeed.
Babies in the study were then followed up at various points as they grew up to explore the impact of the breastfeeding programme – including on their lung function, asthma and eczema. While self-report questionnaires were completed by the children for all three health issues, a skin examination was also carried out for eczema, and a breath-test for lung health.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian.
