Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is universally recommended as the superior method for feeding infants because it's linked to long-term prevention of various illnesses including asthma, diabetes and obesity. A study released Monday puts more emphasis on breastfeeding by showing it may have a lasting impact on metabolism. French researchers analyzed three years of data following 234 children and how they were fed after birth. One group of children received only breast milk for the first four months of life.

Breast-feeding infants for at least six months appears to give kids' an advantage in school, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics . Many other studies have also found a small effect on school performance from breast-feeding. This study, however, was unique in that boys appeared to benefit the most. The researchers, from the University of Western Australia in Perth, have followed 2,868 children since the early '90s. The study showed that, at age 10, boys who were breast-fed for six months or longer scored higher in math, reading and spelling compared with boys who were breast-fed for less than six months.

Breast-feeding at work should become a lot easier as employers adhere to a provision of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. In a report released Friday, women's health advocates estimate that the provision will increase the breast-feeding rate among U.S. women, a statistic that now ranks well below other developed nations. Under the new law, employers must provide nursing breaks and a private, sanitary place where mothers of children younger than 1 who work as nonexempt employees can express breast milk.

Any new mom can attest to being tired. Nighttime feedings are usually the culprit, so how does breastfeeding compare to formula feeding in terms of sleep disruption? It really makes no difference, Julie’s Health Club blog of the Chicago Tribune reports. "When researchers looked at the impact of different feeding methods on a mother’s sleep, they found no differences in the time or quality of their sleep," Julie Deardorff writes in explaining a new study published Monday.

A new study suggests that breast milk may not combat common infections of infancy unless it is the exclusive source of food for the first six months of a baby’s life. That’s right, sleep-deprived new moms: This would mean that you might have to ditch that occasional, sanity-saving bottle of formula if you want to keep the ear infections at bay. Researchers from the University of Crete followed 926 infants, interviewing their mothers in the first year of the babies' lives, at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. They recorded whether the babies were breastfed and for how long, and if and when the babies also ate other liquids or solid food.

Rolling along Re "Skate park grinds at residents," Sept. 13 Skateboarders finally get a skateboard plaza, and neighbors are still complaining. Youths are off the street and have a place to hang out and perform their favorite sport. Parents have less to worry about because they know where their children are, and fewer people are bothered on the street by passing skateboarders. It is a win-win situation. Yet neighbors still complain about the noise of the skateboarders.

By now, the overwhelming benefit of breastfeeding babies to improve their health, and sometimes to save their lives, is universally acknowledged, even by the companies that produce formula. But breast-feeding rates remain alarmingly low, and the reason is the relentless marketing of these same companies, the implicit collaboration of well-meaning hospitals and the unwillingness of government to abide by its international commitments. Though we would all like to believe that we outsmart advertising and make decisions based on rational assessments, formula companies and the World Health Organization know better.

HIV-positive women who are breastfeeding should not be given vitamin A supplements because it increases the risk of transmitting the AIDS virus to their infants, researchers said Thursday. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been largely controlled in the United States and other developed countries through the use of antiretroviral drugs, but is a major problem in the developing world. In 2008, there were 430,000 new HIV infections in infants, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and breast feeding accounted for more than 95% of them.

Breastfeeding a newborn for even one month will lower a woman's lifetime risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published Friday. Other research has also linked breastfeeding to a reduced risk of diabetes among women, but the new study establishes the strength of the association to a much greater degree. The question now is, why wouldn't every new mother breastfeed for at least one month? And, how can society make it easier on new mothers so they can nurse? The study, led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, examined data from 2,233 women in California's Kaiser Permanente healthcare system.

The health benefits of breast-feeding for mothers and babies are widely known. Studies have shown it may improve cognitive development among children and could reduce a woman's risk of getting breast cancer or cardiovascular disease. But new research suggests that some very obese woman may not breast-feed as much or for as long as their normal-weight counterparts. The study, released in the January issue of the journal Obesity, looked at information about 3,517 white women and 2,846 black women from 2000 to 2005.