The age at which allergenic foods should be introduced into the diet of breast-fed infants is uncertain. Researchers evaluated whether the early introduction of allergenic foods in the diet of breast-fed infants would protect against the development of food allergy.

Breastfeeding has clear short-term benefits, but its long-term consequences on human capital are yet to be established. We aimed to assess whether breastfeeding duration was associated with intelligence quotient (IQ), years of schooling, and income at the age of 30 years, in a setting where no strong social patterning of breastfeeding exists.

Previous studies indicate that breast milk arsenic concentrations are relatively low even in areas with high drinking water arsenic. However, it is uncertain whether breastfeeding leads to reduced infant exposure to arsenic in regions with lower arsenic concentrations. The researchers estimated the relative contributions of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during early infancy in a U.S. population.

The researchers primary objective was to evaluate the effect of peer counselling by mother support groups (MSG's) in improving the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in the community. Researchers conducted this repeated-measure before and after study in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India between 2006 and 2011. They assessed the IYCF practices before and after creating MSG's within the community. The feeding practices were reassessed at two time points–2 (T1) and 5 years (T2) after the intervention and compared with that of the pre-intervention phase (T0).

Many preterm infants are not capable of exclusive breastfeeding from birth. To guide mothers in breastfeeding, it is important to know when preterm infants can initiate breastfeeding and progress. The aim was to analyse postmenstrual age (PMA) at breastfeeding milestones in different preterm gestational age (GA) groups, to describe rates of breastfeeding duration at pre-defined times, as well as analyse factors associated with PMA at the establishment of exclusive breastfeeding.

India is the only nation where girls have greater risks of under-5 mortality than boys. We test whether female disadvantage in breastfeeding and food allocation accounts for gender disparities in mortality.

Original Source

Urgent calls have been made for improved understanding of changes in coverage of maternal, newborn, and child health interventions, and their country-level determinants. The researchers examined historical trends in coverage of interventions with proven effectiveness, and used them to project rates of child and neonatal mortality in 2035 in 74 Countdown to 2015 priority countries.

Maternal undernutrition contributes to 800 000 neonatal deaths annually through small for gestational age births; stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated to underlie nearly 3·1 million child deaths annually. Progress has been made with many interventions implemented at scale and the evidence for effectiveness of nutrition interventions and delivery strategies has grown.

An analysis was conducted of the number of countries that guarantee breastfeeding breaks, the daily number of hours guaranteed, and the duration of guarantees. To obtain current, detailed information on national policies, original legislation as well as secondary sources on 182 of the 193 Member States of the United Nations were examined. Regression analyses were conducted to test the association between national policy and rates of exclusive breastfeeding while controlling for national income level, level of urbanization, female percentage of the labour force and female literacy rate.