Higher rates of breast feeding would reduce infant mortality

Getting more mothers to increase the duration of exclusive breast feeding would cut infant mortality, an international study has found. Betrán et al analysed national data on breast feeding and infant mortality from diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infection in16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (p 303). They estimated that if all infants aged 0-3 months were exclusively breast fed and all infants aged 4-11 months were partially breast fed, infant mortality would fall by 14% overall. The greatest effect was in the younger age group, when deaths from diarrhoeal and acute respiratory diseases could be cut by two thirds.

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Relevant Article

Ecological study of effect of breast feeding on infant mortality in Latin America

Ana P Betrán, Mercedes de Onís, Jeremy A Lauer, and José Villar
BMJ 2001 323: 303. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]