While breastfedding has always been the prefered method in Europe, its not the 1st choice of many women in N.America.
Here is the latest:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...2155&ncid=2155
Babies should get breast milk only for 6 months, then add solids: doctors
Tue Mar 8, 9:36 PM ET
SHERYL UBELACKER
TORONTO (CP) - Women should exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months without adding solid foods or formula in order to promote optimal health, the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends.
The new guideline replaces previous advice that moms could add solid foods or formula to their babies' diet along with breastfeeding at four to six months, bringing the society in line with the World Health Organization (news - web sites), which recommended the six-month start time in 2001.
Studies have shown that breast milk alone in an infant's first half-year of life confers increased health benefits for a longer period, said Dr. Margaret Boland, chair of the Canadian Pediatric Society's nutrition committee.
"It means that we're not having mothers give babies infant cereal at four months, that we would like to extend the period where the baby's source of nutrition, the sole source of nutrition, is breast milk," Boland said Tuesday from Ottawa.
"And it's going to exclude formulas and it's going to exclude any solids - cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, any of the complementary infant foods."
Breast milk contains antibodies that help babies fight off illness, said Boland, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months offers increased protection, in particular against gastrointestinal infections that can cause diarrhea.
"When you introduce other food into the diet, you change some of the absorption of nutrients that babies get from their food," she said, noting that while jarred baby foods are sterile, cereals are not and may introduce micro-organisms into the infant's system.
The executive director of La Leche League of Canada welcomed the society's decision to change its recommendation, which mirrors advice the group has always given the women it counsels.
That's because starting solid foods earlier than six months can be detrimental, said Teresa Pitman, whose organization offers help to mothers who want to feed their infants naturally.
"One of the ways breastfeeding protects babies is it changes the baby's intestine," Pitman said from Guelph, Ont. "When it's only breast milk going in, they have certain bacteria, healthy bacteria, growing in their intestines, and that helps to keep them healthy. Even a small amount of solid foods will change the lining of the intestine."
WHO found significant differences in rates of infection when babies were fed solid foods before six months compared to those who weren't, she said.
Still, Boland said it's crucial that babies in Canada who are being breastfed exclusively be given supplements of vitamin D - the sunshine vitamin - which is added to commercial foods and formula to prevent the bone-softening disease rickets.
While 85 per cent of Canadian moms start off breastfeeding, only 19 per cent continue to do so exclusively up to six months, Statistics Canada figures show. The Canadian Pediatric Society says that along with introducing babies to solid foods no earlier than six months, breastfeeding can continue for up to two years and beyond.
"We're still struggling with trying to get women to extend their duration of breastfeeding . . .," said Boland. "But how do we promote breastfeeding? Because we've got a commercial society and we're bombarded with the commercialization of everything, which says if you're a modern mom, you're going to bottle feed.
"And that's still a prevalent choice that some women make."
Here is the latest:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...2155&ncid=2155
Babies should get breast milk only for 6 months, then add solids: doctors
Tue Mar 8, 9:36 PM ET
SHERYL UBELACKER
TORONTO (CP) - Women should exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months without adding solid foods or formula in order to promote optimal health, the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends.
The new guideline replaces previous advice that moms could add solid foods or formula to their babies' diet along with breastfeeding at four to six months, bringing the society in line with the World Health Organization (news - web sites), which recommended the six-month start time in 2001.
Studies have shown that breast milk alone in an infant's first half-year of life confers increased health benefits for a longer period, said Dr. Margaret Boland, chair of the Canadian Pediatric Society's nutrition committee.
"It means that we're not having mothers give babies infant cereal at four months, that we would like to extend the period where the baby's source of nutrition, the sole source of nutrition, is breast milk," Boland said Tuesday from Ottawa.
"And it's going to exclude formulas and it's going to exclude any solids - cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, any of the complementary infant foods."
Breast milk contains antibodies that help babies fight off illness, said Boland, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months offers increased protection, in particular against gastrointestinal infections that can cause diarrhea.
"When you introduce other food into the diet, you change some of the absorption of nutrients that babies get from their food," she said, noting that while jarred baby foods are sterile, cereals are not and may introduce micro-organisms into the infant's system.
The executive director of La Leche League of Canada welcomed the society's decision to change its recommendation, which mirrors advice the group has always given the women it counsels.
That's because starting solid foods earlier than six months can be detrimental, said Teresa Pitman, whose organization offers help to mothers who want to feed their infants naturally.
"One of the ways breastfeeding protects babies is it changes the baby's intestine," Pitman said from Guelph, Ont. "When it's only breast milk going in, they have certain bacteria, healthy bacteria, growing in their intestines, and that helps to keep them healthy. Even a small amount of solid foods will change the lining of the intestine."
WHO found significant differences in rates of infection when babies were fed solid foods before six months compared to those who weren't, she said.
Still, Boland said it's crucial that babies in Canada who are being breastfed exclusively be given supplements of vitamin D - the sunshine vitamin - which is added to commercial foods and formula to prevent the bone-softening disease rickets.
While 85 per cent of Canadian moms start off breastfeeding, only 19 per cent continue to do so exclusively up to six months, Statistics Canada figures show. The Canadian Pediatric Society says that along with introducing babies to solid foods no earlier than six months, breastfeeding can continue for up to two years and beyond.
"We're still struggling with trying to get women to extend their duration of breastfeeding . . .," said Boland. "But how do we promote breastfeeding? Because we've got a commercial society and we're bombarded with the commercialization of everything, which says if you're a modern mom, you're going to bottle feed.
"And that's still a prevalent choice that some women make."
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