Hi Joy As fellow Western Australian Val Best has already pointed out, there is good research going on in WA with regard to bf protecting against asthma. My notes from the Conference that Wendy Oddy presented her findings at are: Wendy Oddy, a researcher at the TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health in Perth, presented a fascinating piece of research regarding incidence of asthma and breastfeeding. In a prospective study of 2888 children from birth to age 5, data was collected at age 1, 2, 3 and 5 years of age regarding breastfeeding and symptoms of asthma. In the 1800 sets of complete information collected so far, Wendy and her colleagues have found that exclusive breastfeeding for more than 4 months significantly reduces the risk of Everwheezing Currentlywheezing Doctordiagnosing asthma Sleepdisturbance due to wheeze Skinprick positive for common allergens. As the rate of diagnosis of asthma was 33.6% in this group of 5 year olds, the significance of the protective effect of breastfeeding to the health budget is very great. Although some children who were exclusively breastfed for more than 4 months did wheeze, they tended to develop wheeze later in life and at a much lower incidence than those who had other milks or solids introduced before 4 months of age. The protective effect of breastfeeding was apparent even when other confounders such as gender, gestational age, siblings, use of childcare/playgroup and smokers in the household were adjusted for. The researchers suspect that the omega3 fatty acids in breastmilk have an immune modulating effect via cytokines, and that might explain why bf protects against asthma. Wendy has not published her research yet, but I'll see if I can find out more detail for you. Hope this helps Fiona Fiona Coombes MBBS IBCLC [log in to unmask] Lactation Consultant, Family Physician Perth Western Australia