BREASTFEEDING AND ALLERGIES

Health benefits for babies being breastfed are well-documented.    Antibodies from the mother that are contained in breast milk help strengthen the baby’s immune system.  Determining whether or not breastfeeding can actually prevent allergies in young children is harder to prove.  Studies have been conducted that indicate removing foods that are common triggers for allergies from the mother’s diet while nursing does not provide any allergy prevention benefit for the baby.  The most allergy benefits seemed to be correlated to the length of time that a baby is fed exclusively with breast milk.  Greatest benefits were charted at six months, while babies nursed for shorter times still had fewer allergic symptoms than those who were never breastfed.

P.S.  If mothers are unable to breastfeed, special hydrolyzed infant formulas are available as hypoallergenic substitutes for cow’s milk or soy formulas.

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