The June issue of Pediatrics has an article on comparative morbidity from ear
infections and diarrhea between breastfed and artificially-fed babies.  From
this layperson's perspective, it looks like the authors did a great job of
weeding out confounding factors, and showing a dose-response relationship
between diminishing amounts of breastfeeding and increased rates of illness.

The article is in the electronic pages of Pediatrics at the following URL:

http://www.pediatrics.org/current.shtml#ELECTRONIC_ARTICLE

One question I'd like answered is why the authors excluded all babies that died
during the study.  Was there any attempt made to capture any data about those
babies, i.e., was there a higher death rate among breastfed vs.
artificially-fed babies.  Anyone with more credentials than I have care to pose
that one to the authors?


J. Rachael Hamlet
Author, The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page
http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html