rss
Arch Dis Child 2009;94:148-150 doi:10.1136/adc.2008.146126
  • Short report

Infant feeding, solid foods and hospitalisation in the first 8 months after birth

  1. M A Quigley1,
  2. Y J Kelly2,
  3. A Sacker3
  1. 1
    National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  2. 2
    Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK
  3. 3
    Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
  1. Maria A Quigley, National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK; maria.quigley{at}npeu.ox.ac.uk
  • Accepted 4 September 2008
  • Published Online First 1 October 2008

Abstract

Most infants in the UK start solids before the recommended age of 6 months. We assessed the independent effects of solids and breast feeding on the risk of hospitalisation for infection in term, singleton infants in the Millennium Cohort Study (n = 15 980). For both diarrhoea and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), the monthly risk of hospitalisation was significantly lower in those receiving breast milk compared with those receiving formula. The monthly risk of hospitalisation was not significantly higher in those who had received solids compared with those not on solids (for diarrhoea, adjusted odds ratio 1.39, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.59; for LRTI, adjusted odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.70), and the risk did not vary significantly according to the age of starting solids.

Footnotes

  • See Editorial,, p 79

  • Funding: The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit is funded by the Department of Health in England.

  • Competing interests: None.

  • Ethics approval: Ethical approval for the MCS was granted from the Multi-centre Research Ethics Committee.

  • Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Health.

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF
  4. All versions of this article:
    1. adc.2008.146126v1
    2. 94/2/148 most recent

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.

ADC is co-owned by the RCPCH and is the official journal of the European Academy of Paediatrics

Show me all >>