Does breastfeeding cut food allergy risk?

Yes

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by Robin A. Ross

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Breastfeeding reduces your child's lifelong chances of developing food allergies. The formula companies even go so far as to put "Breast-Milk is Best" in almost all of their advertisements. The reason for this is not because they want to sell less formula, it is because it is a proven fact that breast-milk is best.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend breastfeeding exclusively until your child reaches six months of age. Breastfeeding exclusively means that breast-milk is the only food that goes into your infants body. You will not start solids or cereal until your child has passed the six month mark.

When your baby is born they have a sterile gastrointestinal tracts. If babies are exclusively breastfed, they develop a natural healthy gut flora. The introduction of even a little bit of formula prior to six months of age increases the amount of bad bacteria in there intestine increasing there risk for developing allergies and various childhood illnesses.

The infant gut is not fully developed. It takes several weeks for the gut to fully close up and the introduction of artificial milk can increase the likelihood of the child developing milk allergies.

Breastfeeding will give your infants gut the opportunity to fully form. It will ensure that only breast-milk, which is created specifically for your individual child, will pass through their system. It will protect your child from developing allergies from being introduced alternate forms of nutrition too soon.

With this in mind if at all possible try not to feed your child any alternate forms of nutrition for the first six months. You may be tired, and tempted to give your baby a bottle those first few days, but the benefits of providing your unique mothers milk far outweigh the additional sleep you may get by feeding your newborn a formula bottle.

That being said not everyone can breastfeed. There are several reasons why breastfeeding just does not work out for a mother and child. If this is the case it is important to seriously discuss with your child's physician what your options for infant feeding are.

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