Marie Biancuzzo expresses doubt about the applicability of the study by Von
Kries et al, because they refer to exclusive breastfeeding, an apparent
rarity in the US.

What the authors found was a DOSE-DEPENDENT relationship between the
duration of exclusive BF and later childhood obesity.  The relationship was
inversely proportional, that is to say, the longer the child was exclusively
BF, the less likely it was to be obese on starting school.  You can read the
entire article in the May 200,1999 issue of the British Medical Journal at
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/319/7203/147
or just download the .pdf version and print it out yourself.  It is a good
study and well worth reading.

In the text of the original article, it is explained:
Parents were asked: "Was your child breast fed?" If they answered yes they
were then asked: "For how long was your child exclusively breast fed: (a) 2
months or less, (b) 3 to 5 months, (c) 6 to 12 months or (d) more than a
year?" Exclusive breast feeding was defined as the child being fed no food
other than breast milk.

Not breastfeeding at all carried the greatest risk for childhood obesity.
Any BF was better than none.  There was a measurable, significant effect of
BF regardless of duration of exclusive BF.  I was interested to note that
the obese children consumed LESS whole milk and dairy fat than the normal
weight children.  The authors also found that sleeping in a separate room
from mother was positively associated with obesity.  Read the article!  It
sparked much discussion and at the URL given above you can also find the
responses to it as posted in the BMJ.

Happy New Year to all, by the way!  I missed Lactnet's high activity during
those slow days around the 25th of December.

cheers
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway, where the enormous amounts of precip have turned from
liquid to crystallised state and we are snowed in big time.

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