Breastfeeding cuts babies’ risk of ‘crib death’-- study

Breastfeeding is known for its enormous health benefits for mothers, babies and families. Human breastmilk is the ideal food for babies, and breastfeeding is recommended exclusively for the first six months of life.

Breastmilk feeding not only encourages bonding between mother and baby, but also helps eyesight and brain development in babies.

Another reason to breastfeed your baby
Now a new analysis of past studies suggests that babies who are breastfed, especially those only fed breast milk, and not formula as well, are less likely to die from SIDS, which is one of the biggest fears for parents raising youngsters.

The analysis drew its results from hundreds of recent research studies -- all with mixed results.

Curbs SIDS risk
In the new study breastfeeding appeared to reduce the risk of SIDS by up to 73 percent.

“Breastfeeding to any extent and of any duration is protective against SIDS,” said researcher Fern Hauck, MD, of the department of family medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

For their study, Hauck and colleagues identified 288 studies examining the relationship between breastfeeding and SIDS from 1966 to 2009 and narrowed their analysis down to 18 studies that met basic research quality criteria.

"We were looking at the pure effect of just the breastfeeding and not these other possible confounding factors," Hauck said.

Study findings
After the analysis, Hauck's team found that infants breastfed for any length of time were 60 percent less likely to die from SIDS, while for babies who received any breastmilk at 2 months of age and older, the likelihood of SIDS was 62 percent lower.

That risk dropped 73 percent for babies exclusively breastfed- without any use of formula for any duration.

"That's pretty outstanding. That's a very large reduction in risk," Hauck exclaimed.

Research urges for breastfeeding
The study findings encourage moms to breastfeed their newborns exclusively for the first six months and then continue with food, through a baby's first birthday.

“Breastfeeding has many benefits for mothers' and infants' health. This study shows another important reason that mothers should breastfeed their infants, and ideally, this should be exclusive... because of the risk of a baby dying of SIDS to go even lower as possible,” Hauck said.

“These results indicate that breast-feeding is strongly protective against SIDS. Exclusive breastfeeding confers the most protection."

The results are due to publish in July's edition of 'Pediatrics' Journal.

What is SIDS?
SIDS, also known as "crib death," is defined as the sudden death of an infant younger than 1 year of age. If the child's death remains unexplained after a formal investigation into the circumstances of the death, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the child’s medical history, the death is then attributed to SIDS.

Approximately 2,500 infants die from SIDS in the United States every year.