Breast-feeding reduces baby deaths

Breast-feeding reduces the risk of babies dying in their first year by as much as 20 per cent, scientists said yesterday. Hundreds of deaths a year would be prevented if women breastfed their babies for the first 12 months instead of using bottle milk, they said.

Previous studies showed the breast provides a variety of benefits for babies, such as reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

But this research is the first to show a reduction in infant death rates among children in the developed world. The study looked at 9,000 US babies, including the records of 1,200 children who died between 28 days and one year of causes other than cancer or congenital anomalies.

DrWalter Rogan, who led the study at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina, said the reason breastfeeding reduced the risk of death was unclear.

He added: 'Although we knew breastfeeding in the developing world was lifesaving, since it prevented diarrhoea and pneumonia, we had no data from the US on this outcome.' It was also possible that women who breastfed simply tended to spend more time near their children, protecting them from fatal accidents, he said.