Breastfeeding Improves Lung Function
Breastfed Babies Have Fewer Respiratory Problems
It is no surprise that new benefits of breastfeeding are being discovered all the time. Not simply a source of food, breastmilk acts like a multi-vitamin and a mini-vaccine at each feeding to protect your baby from a host of illnesses. One of the protective benefits is to reduce respiratory infections and assist the baby's lung volume.
Breastfeeding Decreases Risk of Respiratory Infection
One new study conducted at Johns Hopkins showed that preterm female infants were provided a protective benefit from respiratory infections when they were given breastmilk. Although this study did not show a protective benefit for preterm male infants and breastmilk, it helped to identify preterm girls as a particular population that may be at higher risk for severe acute lung disease.
Even full-term infants benefit from breastmilk into later infancy. A 1998 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at infants up to six months of age that were evaluated every two weeks. Breastfed infants had a lower incidence of lower respiratory illness and a shorter duration of all respiratory illnesses versus those who were not breastfed. The most dramatic differences were found in the group of infants who were receiving exclusive breastfeeding as opposed to partial breastfeeding or formula-feeding.
Length of Breastfeeding Provides Protection for Up to Two Years
Even how long a mother exclusively breastfeeds her baby affects how much protection is provided against respiratory illnesses. A 2006 Pediatrics study showed that babies who were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of infancy had fewer respiratory illnesses than even those babies who received two months less breastfeeding. In fact, the risk of pneumonia and ear infection was four times higher for babies that only received breastmilk for 4 months instead of 6.
Researchers even found that this protective benefit against respiratory illnesses continued until the age of two for those babies who were exclusively breastfed for 6 months.
A UK study in 2007 showed that approximately 27% of hospitalizations in the first 8 months of life due to lower respiratory illnesses could have been prevented if the infants were exclusively breastfed.
Increased Lung Volume Seen in Older Children that Were Breastfed
One brand new study shows that breastfeeding can actually improve an older child's ability to breathe by increasing his/her lung volume. This research study available in the latest issue of Thorax found that at age 10, children had improved lung function if they were breastfed for at least 4 months. This was one of the first studies that examined the effects of breastfeeding on lung function in older children.
The results overwhelmingly support the choice to breastfeed your baby, ideally exclusively for at least 6 months. Breastfeeding is not just beneficial for your baby's immediate health care benefit, but for the long-term protection provided that cannot be obtained from any vaccine or brand of infant formula.
Breastfeeding Benefits Older Children
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