Breastfeeding May Cut Risk of Asthma for Baby, Erasmus MC

Breastfeeding for at least six months appears to reduce the risk of a child developing asthma, new Dutch research suggests. Exclusive breastfeeding offered even more protection, the researchers found. The link between breastfeeding and asthma risk has been reported before. However, the new study is believed to be the first to link the length of breastfeeding with the number of wheezing episodes a child has later on. "Children who were never breastfed had almost 50% more risk of wheezing symptoms as compared to children who were breastfed for more than six months," says Liesbeth Duijts, MD, PhD, a researcher at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Children who were breastfed and given other milk and solids early had 20% more wheezing risk than babies who were exclusively breastfed, Duijts found.