>Any ideas, or further info? My first idea is that our newspaper will tell us about this danger with breastfeeding, making sure to eliminate the last part about the importance of breastfeeding anyway. The paper failed to print the reports from Lancet about hypertension and obesity, but I'll be we get this one. I, of course, haven't seen the original research, but one can wonder where the researchers found a good sample of infants that were "exclusively breastfed." It appears that the research was based on the recollections of the mothers long after infancy was past. Also, asthmatic mothers might be more likely to breastfeed (exclusively, if possible) hoping to lessen the chance of their children's having asthma. And whatever triggers Mom may have for her asthma would be in the child's environment and be affecting the child after the protection of breastfeeding is past. Also the mothers reported the length of time that they breastfed, but we are not told how long that was and if they delayed solids (against their Peds orders) until well into their first year. In the US, until 1997, 6 months was "extended" breastfeeding--very few exclusive. And, as infants, the children were protected. It looks as if breastfeeding for 5-6 years would be one solution. >The researchers suspect chemicals in the mother's milk affect the child's >immune system and the onset of asthma. That's a strange statement. I wonder if the news report was off on that one. I'll bet that the research doesn't support that first attention-grabbing sentence: "Asthmatic mothers who breast feed their children could be increasing their risk of developing the disease, U.S. researchers said on Thursday." On Lactnet Heather (from UK) quotes from a report there: breast-feeding protects against asthma up to the age of two years. However, by the age of six, children with asthmatic mothers were five times more likely to wheeze if they had been breast-fed, an effect that persisted into their teenage years. However, the increased risk only applies to children who have a tendency to allergic reaction - something that only becomes apparent at an age long after decisions about whether or not to breast-feed have been made. And long after accurate accounts of whether there was "any" formula given in hospital--even a few drops on the nipple to get baby to latch, or the bottle that was given when baby went to the central nursery and "slept" for 5 hours. Will the U.S. papers print the last sentence that Heather sent? Pat Gima Mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html