Evaluation of the effect of breastfeeding duration on child health

Aim. To conduct an objective and subjective assessment of the impact of breastfeeding duration on children's health.

Methods. For a subjective assessment, a survey with random sampling of 476 mothers of children under the age of 1 year was conducted. For an objective assessment of health, the copying of data from the form 112/u “Case history of child's development” was used. The representativeness of this sample was tested by the method of Professor A.M. Merkov, with the error not exceeding 4%.

Results. The majority of women participating in the survey indicated that after discharge from the obstetric hospital, they continued breastfeeding for up to 3 months (21.8%) and up to 6 months (25.3%). The study revealed a statistically significant relationship between the subjective assessment of children's health and the duration of breastfeeding. The highest subjective health score was in children who received breast milk up to 6 and 12 months (4.2±0.09 and 4.3±0.07), the lowest — in children who were formula-fed (3.1±0.10). The performed analysis of the dependence of the proportion of healthy children on the duration of breastfeeding demonstrated the direct strong correlation between the indicators (rxy=0.88). The presence of an inverse strong correlation was established between the proportion of children with chronic diseases and the duration of breastfeeding (rxy=–0.88). In addition, the longer the period of feeding the baby with breast milk, the lower the incidence of acute diseases during the first year of life (rxy=–0.85).

Conclusion. Assessment of the child's health, both subjective and objective, depends on the duration of breastfeeding; infants who are breastfed longer during the first year are less likely to get sick and generally have better health.