The Baby Mum-Mum Blog

Baby Nutrition - Breastfeeding Helps Prevent Allergies

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

At last, more substantial news arrives to support the adage "breast is best". The American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) announced this week at their annual meeting that exclusively breastfeeding infants for the first 3 months of life can protect them from food allergies.

This statement, along with several others made via the ACAAI, provides insight into preventing allergies in children.  Highlighted measures for food allergy prevention in infants and children include:

• Breatefeeding
• Maternal food avoidance of common allergens while pregnant and breastfeeding
• Delayed introduction of solids to infants until they’re 6 months old
• Postponed introduction of common allergens to infants until after their first birthday
• Use of hypoallergenic formulas
• Early intervention when signs of food allergies appear
• Probiotics

Additional Findings

Exclusively breastfeeding infants with a high risk of developing food allergies for the first 3 months provides a significant protective measure.  This conclusion was derived from the review of 18 studies.  Experts at the ACAAI also stated that doctors should be aware that food allergies could also be the cause of dermatological (skin) and gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) symptoms in patients.  The consensus is that removing allergic response inducing foods can help alleviate symptoms and is the best form of treatment.

Why It Works

One of the reasons breastfeeding aids in allergy prevention is that immunity is directly passed from mother to baby.  Not just food allergies, but environmental allergies as well.  As the Holistic Pediatric Association points out, breast milk contains probiotics (“friendly bacteria”), immune factors, antifungal, and antiparasitic components.

Breastfeeding and Asthma

While on the subject of breastfeeding and infant health, it is important to discuss the rumors about the risk of asthma.  Some moms may have heard that breastfeeding your baby may increase the risk of her developing asthma.  The truth is there is no proven truth to that statement.  Research deems the correlation between breastfeeding and asthma to be relatively inconclusive, as not enough research has been done on asthma directly.  Science Daily provides one explanation to all the recent rumors and confusion. A recent study discovered that while infants breastfed longer than 4 months by asthmatic mothers may be at a greater risk for developing asthma, there is no risk for babies being breastfed by non-asthmatic mothers.  This crucial element was not looked at in any other study. What we do know for sure is that breastfeeding enhances your baby’s immunity which provides overall better health.  Sometimes science takes a while to catch up to what we already know innately.

References:
1. Journal of Human Lactation, Vol. 19, No. 3, 250-261 (2003)
2. American Thoracic Society (2007, November 6). Breastfed Babies Breathe Better, Except When Mom Has Asthma. ScienceDaily
3. Breastfeeding, atopy, and asthma.  The Lancet, Volume 361, Issue 9352, Pages 174-174 R. Becquet, V. Leroy, L. Salmi
4. Gdalevich M, Mimouni D, Mimouni M. 2001. Breastfeeding and the risk of bronchial asthma in childhood: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. J Pediatrics 139: 261-66. 

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease