Breast-feeding of allergic infants☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Patients and Study Design
We studied 100 infants fulfilling the Hanifin criteria for atopic eczema in children.16 Atopic eczema had begun during exclusive breast-feeding at a mean age of 2 months (range 0.5 to 6 months). Written informed consent was obtained from the children’s parents. The Committee On Ethical Practice of Tampere University Hospital approved the study. During primary health care the parents had received the same advice on allergy prevention, promoting exclusive breast-feeding for 4 to 6 months. The
Clinical Characteristics
A family history of atopic disorders was verified in 77 patients, and 54 had several family members with atopic disorders. The mean (95% CI) duration of pregnancy was 39 weeks (39 to 39.5 weeks), and the range was 35 to 42 weeks.
During the immediate postnatal period at the maternity ward for healthy children, 55% had received donor breast milk, starting from .8 days of age (.7 to .9 days). The total quantity consumed was 118 mL (41 to 194 mL) with a mean (95% CI). The duration of breast-feeding
DISCUSSION
For the last 2 decades a resurgence in breast-feeding has been associated with a rise in the prevalence of allergic diseases.1, 2 Consequently, the question addressed in this study, whether to continue breast-feeding of infants with allergic manifestations, now arises frequently in pediatric practice. Elimination diets, designed for the lactating mother or her infant, are commonly used in attempts to prevent or treat allergy. The families in this study had selected breast-feeding and also
Acknowledgements
We thank Tuija Poussa, MSc, for able statistical consultations.
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Cited by (0)
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Supported by the Academy of Finland and the Emil Aaltonen Foundation.
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Reprint requests: Erika Isolauri, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland.
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0022-3476/99/$8.00 + 0 9/21/95111