Breastfeeding improves survival, but not nutritional status, of 12-35 months old children in rural Bangladesh.
The association between breastfeeding, nutritional status and survival was investigated in a cohort of 1087 children aged 12-35 months from rural Bangladesh followed monthly during 2 years. Mean weight-for-age (%NCHS) of breastfed children was 69.6 per cent (s.d.: 9.3 per cent) compared to 70.6 per cent (s.d.: 10.7 per cent) (P less than 0.001) for non-breast fed children. This confirms that after 1 year of age, breastfed children tend to be more malnourished than non-breastfed children. Despite this difference in nutritional status, risk of dying, after adjusting for age, was six times higher in non-breastfed malnourished children than in similarly malnourished breastfed children. This suggests that breastfeeding beyond 1 year should be encouraged in communities with a high prevalence of malnutrition, despite the frequently observed association between prolonged breastfeeding and malnutrition.
Briend
A
A
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Bari
A
A
D001459:Bangladesh; D001942:Breast Feeding; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012423:Rural Health