Published online March 2, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 3 March 2009, pp. e406-e410 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2145)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow View responses
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vennemann, M.M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vennemann, M.M.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Does Breastfeeding Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?

M.M. Vennemann, MD, MPH, PDa, T. Bajanowski, MD, PDb, B. Brinkmann, MD, PDa, G. Jorch, MD, PDc, K. Yücesan, MDa, C. Sauerland, MScd, E.A. Mitchell, FRACP, DSce and the GeSID Study Group

a Institute of Legal Medicine
d Department of Medical Informatics and Biomathematics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
b Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
c Department of Paediatrics, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
e Department of Paediatrics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

BACKGROUND. In the last 20 years, the prevention campaigns to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome were very successful. In some countries the advice to breastfeed is included in the campaigns' messages, but in other countries it is not.

OBJECTIVE. To examine the association between type of infant feeding and sudden infant death syndrome.

METHODS. The German Study of Sudden Infant Death is a case-control study of 333 infants who died of sudden infant death syndrome and 998 age-matched controls.

RESULTS. A total of 49.6% of cases and 82.9% of controls were breastfed at 2 weeks of age. Exclusive breastfeeding at 1 month of age halved the risk, partial breastfeeding at the age of 1 month also reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, but after adjustment this risk was not significant. Being exclusively breastfed in the last month of life/before the interview reduced the risk, as did being partially breastfed. Breastfeeding survival curves showed that both partial breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding were associated with a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS. This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.

Key Words: case-control • breastfeeding • infant feeding • prevention • sudden infant death syndrome

Abbreviations: SIDS—sudden infant death syndrome • OR—odds ratio • aOR—adjusted odds ratio • GeSID—German Study of Sudden Infant Death • CI—confidence interval

Accepted Nov 13, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


eLetters:

Read all eLetters

Breast feeding, bed sharing & SIDS
Robert G. Carpenter
Pediatrics Online, 1 Apr 2009 [Full text]
Formula Feeding Raises Risk of SIDS
Dawn M. Kersula
Pediatrics Online, 11 Apr 2009 [Full text]