Abstract

The relationship of milk diet and solid feeding practices during the first 4 months of life to rates of early childhood asthma was studied prospectively in a birth cohort of 1110 children. The results of the analysis showed no significant association between rates of asthma and breast feeding or solid feeding practices. This was true for children both of asthmatic and non-asthmatic parentage. It is concluded that there is no evidence to indicate that early breast feeding had any detectable effect on the risk of subsequent asthma in this birth cohort. However, the possibility still remains that breast feeding may have a prophylactic effect for children from highly atopic families.