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  • Title: Breast-feeding and infant health.
    Author: Oseid B.
    Journal: Semin Perinatol; 1979 Jul; 3(3):249-54. PubMed ID: 524112.
    Abstract:
    A mother who breast-feeds makes a significant contribution to her infant's health. Currently researchers are delineating many of the unique nutritional and antiinfective factors in human milk. The psychological advantages that accrue to both the breast-feeding mother and her infant are harder to quantify. Contraindications to breast-feeding are few and relate primarily to maternal illness and need for medications, or to those rare infants who have inborn errors of metabolism. Physicians and other health personnel should advise the mother knowledgeably on breast-feeding and seek imaginative solutions to any problems so that breast-feeding can be continued well into the first year of the infant's life and into following years if both mother and child desire it. Breast-feeding contributes significantly toward the physical and psychological well-being of infants and health professionals should encourage mothers to breast-feed whenever possible. Nutritional advantages of breast milk include 1) a low sodium to potassium ratio; 2) an appropriate fat content; 3) optimal absorption rates for each compositional factor; and 4) high taurine levels which may promote nerve cell growth. Breast-fed infants are less likely to suffer from infant obesity than bottle fed infants. Most investigators agree that human milk affords the infant protection against infections; however, some diseases may be transmitted from the mother to the infant by breast feeding. Breast-feeding enhances the psychological well-being of both the mother and the child and strengthens the emotional bond between them. Breast feeding is contraindicated 1) for infants with phenylketonuria, rare amino acidurias, and galactosemia; 2) for infants whose mothers have diseases such as infectious tuberculosis and venereal disease; and 3) for infants whose mothers are taking medications which might be harmful to the infant. A history of breast cancer in the mother's family does not contraindicate breast-feeding. Hyperbilirubinemia in breast-fed infants can generally be prevented by the prompt initiation of breast-feeding following delivery and by providing the infant with frequent feedings throughout each 24 hour period. Infants with cleft palates can be breast-fed if they are fitted with a dental prosthesis. The threat of breast milk contamination by environmental pollutants is insignificant for most women in the U.S. Unless the mother has been exposed to an abnormally high level of chemical pollution, she need not worry about breast milk contamination.
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