Here is a ref which found that it was better for infants of  smokers to be
breastfed rather than artificially fed. Also one of the ALSPAC studies found
this; I think this is the one (see below).
Lisa  Amir
MBBS MMed IBCLC in Melbourne, Australia

J Epidemiol Community Health 1990 Sep;44(3):224-30

Acute respiratory illness in Adelaide children: breast feeding modifies the
effect of passive smoking.

Woodward A, Douglas RM, Graham NM, Miles H

Department of Community Medicine, University of Adelaide, Australia.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to investigate the relation between passive
smoking and childhood acute respiratory illness. DESIGN--The study involved
an initial postal survey on a random sample of children followed by a
case-control study based on the survey. A respiratory illness score was
calculated from maternal reports of episodes of illness in the previous 12
months. SETTING--The study was a population survey based on Adelaide
metropolitan area in South Australia. PARTICIPANTS--The reference population
(n = 13,996) was all live born children registered in South Australia in
1983 whose parents lived in Adelaide metropolitan area. Of these, 4985
families were contacted by post and from 2125 respondents, 1218 (58%) gave
consent for home interview. "Cases" were children with respiratory illness
scores in the top 20%, controlling for age and time of year (n = 258);
"controls" were taken in the bottom 20% (n = 231). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
RESULTS--Maternal smoking in the first year of life was associated with a
doubling in relative odds of respiratory proneness in the child (odds ratio
= 2.06, 95% CI 1.25-3.39) after adjustment for confounding by parental
history of respiratory illness, other smokers in the home, use of group
child care, parent's occupation, and levels of maternal stress and social
support. There was no evidence that this association was attributable to
differences in the way smoking and non-smoking parents perceived or managed
childhood acute respiratory illness. Maternal smoking in the first year,
without smoking in pregnancy, was also associated with increased risk of
respiratory proneness (odds ratio 1.75, 95% CI 1.03-3.0), showing an effect
of passive smoking independent of any in utero effect. There was a strong
negative effect modification by breast feeding: relative odds of respiratory
proneness with maternal smoking were seven times higher among children who
were never breast fed than among those who were breast fed. CONCLUSIONS--The
results suggest a relatively small but real effect of passive smoking on
childhood acute respiratory illness. Effect modification by breast feeding
may be due to a combination of behavioural and biological mechanisms.


Baker D, Taylor H, Henderson J.  Inequality in infant morbidity: causes and
consequences in England in the 1990s. ALSPAC Study Team. Avon Longitudinal
Study of Pregnancy and Childhood.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 1998 Jul;52(7):451-8.

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