Breast-feeding reduces incidence of hospital admissions for infection in infants.
The prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding among infants 0 to 3 months of age in a community was contrasted with the prevalence of breast-feeding among infants hospitalized for the presence of presumed or established infections. During a one-year period, 136 infants, 0 to 3 months of age, were admitted to the hospital. Among the hospitalized group, only 11.0% were being exclusively breast-fed as contrasted with an expected frequency of 25.2% based on community feeding patterns. No bacterial infections were documented among the breast-fed group while 27 bacterial infections were documented among 121 non-breast-fed infants. This survey indicates that exclusively breast-feeding during the first three months of life significantly reduces the incidence of infections that ultimately require hospitalization of infants.
D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001903:Bottle Feeding; D001942:Breast Feeding; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D014505:Urban Population