Breast Milk : More Health Benefits For Girls Than Boys

As we all know, breastfeeding is ideal for babies and for mothers. But a new research showed that premature girls get more benefit from breast milk as compared to their male counterparts, in avoiding the development of serious respiratory infections.

The findings of the study cast doubt over the earlier popular held belief which says that during the first few days after a baby is born, breasts produce colostrumdefine, a substance which contains important ingredients including immunoglobulins or cells which aid in building up your infant's immune systemdefine. So, does it mean breast milk benefits vary from gender to gender?

Many studies have shown that breastfeeding makes a baby enjoy many health benefits compared to those given baby formula. A breast-fed child is more resistant to disease and infection early in life, than formula-fed children, he/she is less likely to contract a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and cancerdefine before the age of 15.

Breastfeeding reduces the likelihood of ear infections, protects from skin diseases and allergies, eczemadefine. Researchers have observed a decrease in the probability of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in breast-fed infants.

Dr Fernando Polack, M.D, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University said, "There are many, many different diseases that are protected against, by breast-feeding. It's a great source of nutrition."

He added further, "In the specific case of acute respiratory diseases like bronchiolitis and viral infections of the respiratory tract, it seems that there is greater benefit in girls than in boys. And that benefit is substantial."

The scientists from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States followed 119 premature babies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, who weighed under about 3.3 pounds (1,500 grams) at delivery through their first year of life to gauge the protective effect of breast-feeding against respiratory infections in babies.

Researchers found that breast milk provided more protection to baby girls than to baby boys and that formula fed girls had the highest risk for severe respiratory infections.

The infants who were formula fed were 8 times more likely than breast-fed girls to develop serious respiratory infections severe enough to need hospital treatment and were more likely to develop such infections than male counterparts who were either breast fed or non breast fed.

Dr. Fernando Polack said, "In light of these results, we are starting to think that milk does not directly transfer protection against lung infections but instead switches on a universal protective mechanism, already in the baby, that is for some reason easier to turn on in girls than in boys."

The study funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that breast-feeding did not affect the number of infections, but rather their severity and the need for treatment in hospital, which means breast milk helped babies to cope with infections better.

The study was published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Last month, a Canadian study found that infants exclusively breastfed for the first three months of life or longer score nearly six points higher on IQ tests at the age of 6 than infants who weren't breastfed exclusively.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months on infants’ life as the best way to improve infants' overall health and build immune system.

Studies show that woman who breastfeed their babies have fewer episodes of post-delivery depressiondefine, loose weight easily, also encourages her uterusdefine to contract and get back in its normal size and position after having been stretched during pregnancy. The incidence of cancer of breast and ovaries, anemia and osteoporosis are less in women who breastfeed.

A latest study found that mothers who breastfeed for more than a year, reduce their chance of rheumatoid arthritis by half.