Breast feeding reduces morbidity

BMJ 1999;318:1303-1304 ( 15 May )

Editorials

Breast feeding reduces morbidity

The risk of HIV transmission requires risk assessment $---$ not a shift to formula feeds

Papers p 1316

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

It is time that doctors, and everyone else, accepted breast feeding as the biological norm, in terms of both feeding and caringfor human infants. Exclusive breast feeding for six months providesthe newborn with all the essential nutrients for health and growthand anti-infective properties not present in breastmilk substitutes.¹The American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated, "The breastfed infant is the reference or normative model against which allalternative feeding methods must be measured."² Therefore ourvocabulary needs to change,³ and we should be saying that formulafed babies have more diseases and poorer psychological developmentthan normal babies, rather than that breast fed babies have lessdisease and higher intelligence. This longstanding view is, however,under threat from the fact that HIV may be transmitted from motherto child through breastmilk.

For several decades we have known that artificially fed infants have much higher rates . . . [Full text of this article]

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Shankar, A. V., Sastry, J., Erande, A., Joshi, A., Suryawanshi, N., Phadke, M. A., Bollinger, R. C. (2005). Making the Choice: the Translation of Global HIV and Infant Feeding Policy to Local Practice among Mothers in Pune, India. J. Nutr. 135: 960-965 [Abstract] [Full text]
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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Practice what you preach!: Ginny Brinkley
bmj.com, 19 May 1999 [Full text]
Is the glass half full or half empty ?: Mary E Black
bmj.com, 25 May 1999 [Full text]