In response to the post on the NY Times Article on Asthma:

My son, now 4 years old, was weaned by me, sadly, at 10 months old.  Before
he hit 11 months, he had his first asthma episode, called Reactive Airway
Disease.  His doctors at the time made no mention of the ceasing of nursing,
and it probably wasn't too late to put him back to breast if someone had
made the connection at the time (including me).

Later, when we switched doctors, his new physician did suggest that he was
receiving some protection from me which when it stopped, opened him up to
the infections leading to his wheezing.  He of course said we would never
know in our situation if that is true, but the timing was indicative of the
possibility.

My daughter is 22 months and nurses a few times a day and shows no signs of
wheezing, despite suffering a severe case of RSV at 6 weeks old, requiring a
week of hospitalization in the NICU at Children's Hospital.

I'll never know if breastfeeding has played a role in either of their
outcomes, but I certainly would not wean a child prematurely again, or
withhold breastmilk entirely, when the strong possibility exists that it
doesn help.  And now I help other mothers successfully nurse their babies as
lay counselor with our nursing mother's group.

Rhonda Feder
Elkins Park, PA
lawyer and lay counselor

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