Breastfeeding 'can reduce cot deaths'

Breastfeeding may protect infants against cot death, according to research published today which supports anecdotal evidence that bottle-fed babies are more likely to be victims of the syndrome.

The study found a "weak relation" between the length of time babies were breastfed and the chances of them dying suddenly and for no obvious reason. Infants who were breastfed for less than four weeks were five times more likely to die than those who were exclusively breastfed for at least 16 weeks. Babies who had four to seven weeks of breast milk were three times more likely to suffer a cot death than those who had 16 weeks of breast milk.

Paediatricians from Sweden compared the feeding regimes of 244 babies who died suddenly between 1992 and 1995 with 869 babies who are alive and well.

The study took into account other factors such as maternal smoking, family income, the baby's sleeping position and the baby's age.

The findings, reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, show that the effect of breastfeeding is not as great as following advice to put a child to sleep on its back. Campaigns to this effect in the early 1990s led to a fall of nearly 70 per cent in cot deaths in England and Wales. Even so, seven babies die from sudden infant death syndrome in Britain every week.

Dr Bernt Alm of Queen Silvia Children's Hospital in Gothenburg, who led the study, said the reasons for the link were unclear. "One possibility could be that breastfed infants had a lower incidence of infections. It is also possible that frequent feeding of the infant, and the resultant closer contact between mother and child, decreases the risk."

Feeding - what the researchers say

* Breast-feeding babies for longer may increase their intelligence, Danish and American researchers say.

* It reduces the risk of babies contracting pneumonia, colds and ear infections, University of California says.

* The pain of injections can be relieved by breast-feeding, University of Chicago says.

* Babies breast-fed in the first six months are less likely to become obese, Philadelphia Children's hospital says.

* It cuts risk of cancer for mothers, Imperial Cancer Research Fund Studies Unit says.