Optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding

Dados Bibliográficos

ID23340510
AutoresMichael S Kramer (0000-0002-5977-8461, McGill University Faculty of Medicine; Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health; 2300 Tupper Street Les Tourelles Montreal Quebec Canada H3H 1P3), Ritsuko Kakuma (0000-0002-0196-2100, The University of Melbourne; Centre for International Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population Health; Level 5, 207 Bouverie Street Carlton Victoria Australia 3053)
Ano2012
Volume2012
Fascículo8
Páginas313-5
Data de publicação2012-08-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1361-6137 • E-ISSN: 1465-1858
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/14651858.cd003517.pub2
PMID11496917
OpenAlexW1912597864
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas203
Referências citadas58

BACKGROUND: Although the health benefits of breastfeeding are widely acknowledged, opinions and recommendations are strongly divided on the optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Since 2001, the World Health Organization has recommended exclusive breastfeeding for six months. Much of the recent debate in developed countries has centred on the micronutrient adequacy, as well as the existence and magnitude of health benefits, of this practice. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects on child health, growth, and development, and on maternal health, of exclusive breastfeeding for six months versus exclusive breastfeeding for three to four months with mixed breastfeeding (introduction of complementary liquid or solid foods with continued breastfeeding) thereafter through six months. SEARCH METHODS: We searched The Cochrane Library (2011, Issue 6), MEDLINE (1 January 2007 to 14 June 2011), EMBASE (1 January 2007 to 14 June 2011), CINAHL (1 January 2007 to 14 June 2011), BIOSIS (1 January 2007 to 14 June 2011), African Index Medicus (searched 15 June 2011), Index Medicus for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (IMEMR) (searched 15 June 2011), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences) (searched 15 June 2011). We also contacted experts in the field.The search for the first version of the review in 2000 yielded a total of 2668 unique citations. Contacts with experts in the field yielded additional published and unpublished studies. The updated literature review in December 2006 yielded 835 additional unique citations. SELECTION CRITERIA: We selected all internally-controlled clinical trials and observational studies comparing child or maternal health outcomes with exclusive breastfeeding for six or more months versus exclusive breastfeeding for at least three to four months with continued mixed breastfeeding until at least six months. Studies were stratified according to study design (controlled trials versus observational studies), provenance (developing versus developed countries), and timing of compared feeding groups (three to seven months versus later). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We independently assessed study quality and extracted data. MAIN RESULTS: We identified 23 independent studies meeting the selection criteria: 11 from developing countries (two of which were controlled trials in Honduras) and 12 from developed countries (all observational studies). Definitions of exclusive breastfeeding varied considerably across studies. Neither the trials nor the observational studies suggest that infants who continue to be exclusively breastfed for six months show deficits in weight or length gain, although larger sample sizes would be required to rule out modest differences in risk of undernutrition. In developing-country settings where newborn iron stores may be suboptimal, the evidence suggests that exclusive breastfeeding without iron supplementation through six months may compromise hematologic status. Based on the Belarusian study, six months of exclusive breastfeeding confers no benefit (versus three months of exclusive breastfeeding followed by continued partial breastfeeding through six months) on height, weight, body mass index, dental caries, cognitive ability, or behaviour at 6.5 years of age. Based on studies from Belarus, Iran, and Nigeria, however, infants who continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months or more appear to have a significantly reduced risk of gastrointestinal and (in the Iranian and Nigerian studies) respiratory infection. No significant reduction in risk of atopic eczema, asthma, or other atopic outcomes has been demonstrated in studies from Finland, Australia, and Belarus. Data from the two Honduran trials and from observational studies from Bangladesh and Senegal suggest that exclusive breastfeeding through six months is associated with delayed resumption of menses and, in the Honduran trials, more rapid postpartum weight loss in the mother. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Infants who are exclusively breastfed for six months experience less morbidity from gastrointestinal infection than those who are partially breastfed as of three or four months, and no deficits have been demonstrated in growth among infants from either developing or developed countries who are exclusively breastfed for six months or longer. Moreover, the mothers of such infants have more prolonged lactational amenorrhea. Although infants should still be managed individually so that insufficient growth or other adverse outcomes are not ignored and appropriate interventions are provided, the available evidence demonstrates no apparent risks in recommending, as a general policy, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life in both developing and developed-country settings.

Breastfeeding · CINAHL · Cochrane Library · Family medicine · MEDLINE · Observational study · Psychological intervention · Randomized controlled trial · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Demography · Infant Nutrition and Health · Medicine · Nursing · Surgery · Pediatrics