bf babies higher risk of nut allergy?

[Guest guest]

Anyone got access to the International Journal of Pediatrics to read the actual research about bf babies being at higher risk of developing nut allergies than babies fed other food and liquid? Sounds suspicious to me and I'd like to know if the research was well-run or not.

Dee Kassing

[Guest guest]

Hi Dee -- I found the full text version for free online. I am going to attempt

to put a copy in the Files for our group. I haven't read it yet but as a mama

with 2 nut allergic children who never had a drop of formula, I will be very

curious as to what it says.

Thanks for alerting us -- Carroll

>

> Anyone got access to the International Journal of Pediatrics to read the

actual research about bf babies being at higher risk of developing nut allergies

than babies fed other food and liquid?  Sounds suspicious to me and I'd like to

know if the research was well-run or not.

>     Dee Kassing

>

[Guest guest]

I thought I'd share a few pieces from the study. Someone else more

qualified than me will need to analyze the study design. In a nutshell

(ha ha!) it seemed overly simplistic to me and was confirmed by the

study authors who stated in the conclusion, " the study design does not

allow causality to be inferred. " Of course, the popular media will

ignore the section on study flaws.

About 15,000 parents of children entering kindergarten were given a

questionnaire about infant feeding practices and nut allergy. Parents

were asked if their child had ever had a strong allergic reaction to

peanuts and/or other nuts. Then they were asked the following about

infant feeding: Age when BFing ceased, was child " fed any fluids or

food, other than breast milk for the first 6 months? " Then they were

asked to specify what they received: water, juice, baby cereal,

vegetables, formula, other.

Of children reported to be BF as infants, >4% reported nut allergy. Of

children not BF, 2.72% nut allergy. Other tidbits... early intro of

complementary foods (prior to 4mos) reduced risk of peanut sensitization

and " prolonged breastfeeding has been shown to increase odds of

developing a peanut allergy by almost 3 times that of children who were

weaned at or before 6 months. "

Carroll

>

> Anyone got access to the International Journal of Pediatrics to read

the actual research about bf babies being at higher risk of developing

nut allergies than babies fed other food and liquid? Sounds suspicious

to me and I'd like to know if the research was well-run or not.

> Dee Kassing

>

[Guest guest]

Or it could be that we forget that there are RISKS of allergies period. The

RISKS of allergies are HIGHER under certain conditions when formula is used.

Best regards,

E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC