Infant feeding
BREASTFEEDING
 Does breastfeeding protect against later obesity risk? A discussion of recent publications
One of the driving forces behind the EU Childhood Obesity Programme was a seminal publication looking at obesity levels in children according to whether they had been breast or formula fed. Von Kries et al (1999), in a retrospective study, found a significantly protective effect of breastfeeding after adjusting for potential confounding factors in more than 9000 Bavarian children aged 5-6y.
What are the advantages of breastfeeding?
Breast milk is the best food for babies. In addition to providing the necessary nutrients in the right proportions, breast milk is easy to digest, and protects against infections, eczema and allergies. Breast-fed infants are also less likely to become obese than formula-fed infants...
What proportion of mothers breastfeed?
The proportion of mothers who begin breastfeeding has been increasing since 1990. In the United Kingdom as a whole, in 2000, 69% of mothers started breastfeeding, even if only briefly. This was an increase from 66% in 1995 and 62% in 1990...
How long do mothers breastfeed?
Although 69% of mothers start breastfeeding, about a fifth of these mothers stop within the first two weeks such that only 52% of mothers are still breastfeeding after 2 weeks and by 4 months only 28% of babies are still getting some breast milk...
Why do mothers stop breastfeeding?
The reasons women give for stopping breastfeeding vary depending on what stage they stop. Mothers who stopped breastfeeding within the first two weeks tended to give reasons such as that the baby rejected the breast, or that they had painful nipples/breasts or that they were worried that they didn’t have enough milk...
How can women be encouraged to start breastfeeding?
The Health Development Agency reviewed the evidence for the effectiveness of public health interventions to promote the initiation of breastfeeding in 2003 (Protheroe, Dyson et al. 2003). They found that...
WEANING
When should weaning begin?
Following new WHO advice issued in 2001, the UK Department of Health now recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life as it provides all the nutrients a baby needs. Previous advice was that...
What should the weaning diet include?
The COMA Report on Weaning recommends that:
Non-wheat cereals, fruit, vegetables and potatoes are suitable first weaning foods. Salt should not be added and additional sugars should be limited to that need for palatability of sour fruits...
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