Laktation_und_Stillen_2016-3 EN Web p1-10

COVER STORY
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optimal feeding, which is defined as exclusive
breastfeeding for six months followed
by the introduction of appropriate
complementary feeding and continuation
of breastfeeding for up to two years of
age or beyond.”
This is the international standard. The
regional and national standards and, above
all the practice, often look quite different.
When we look at the weaning curve of
64 developing countries [16] at a time when
only very few commercial or Western influences
disturbed traditional feeding patterns,
we see something quite interesting:
in almost none of these societies were the
babies weaned before the age of one year.
Also, at the age of two years there was
only a small number of children who no
longer received mother’s milk. These figures
increased in the second half of the
third year of life but, nevertheless, one
quarter of the children were still breastfed
up to their third birthday. Most of them
weaned over the next year. A very few waited
until sometime in the fifth year of life to
bid adieu to breastfeeding entirely.
In the comparable curve for the USA,
there were also children who breastfed
for a very long time, but the proportions
are entirely different. The vast majority of
the children were weaned in the first few
months of life. By their first birthday, 90 %
were no longer breastfed.
An expansive answer to the question:
“How did it happen that children wean
so early in industrialized countries compared
to children in other countries of the
world and to children throughout the history
of humankind?” would go beyond the
framework of this article. But a glance at
the scientific basis for continuing breastfeeding
after the first months of life – the
time in which the inferiority of artificial
feeding versus breastfeeding is very well
documented and broadly accepted – gives
some indications of what we could consider
the be “biologically normal”.
Breastfeeding up to one year
From about the middle of the first year of
life, most children show great interest in
what other people are eating. If it isn’t offered
to them, they make their displeasure
very clear. It is an intellectual jump, but
also a reaction to the body’s signal that the
time has come to expand their gastronomic
horizons somewhat. That does not mean
that mother’s milk suddenly has no value
anymore. For the entire first year of life –
and frequently beyond – it still remains the
most important food, is still a source of
high quality calories, protein, vitamins and
minerals. The next six months – or longer
– are a time of getting acquainted during
which solid foods complement but do not
replace mother’s milk.
Immune protection too [17] and support
for the development of the central nervous
system continue and the effects can be
seen during childhood right up into adulthood.
[18, 19, 20, 21]
For formula-fed children, the risk of developing
certain diseases is, by comparison
to breastfed children, even clearer – partially
due to the protective factors in mother’s
milk, provided by Nature.
Proportion
0,5 –
0,4 –
0,3 –
0,2 –
0,1 –
0,0 –
| | | | |
0 1 2 3 4
United States
Traditional Societies
Source: Ford, C.S:
A Comparative
Study of Human
Reproduction. Yale
University Publications
in Anthropology, No. 32,
1945. New Haven,
T: Human Relations
Area Files Press.
Allergies
Children who have been breastfed for less
than six months have more eczema, food
intolerance and respiratory tract allergies.
Protection against these increases with
longer duration of breastfeeding. The authors
of a study [22] which followed children
up to the age of 17 expressed it this way:
“We conclude that breastfeeding is prophylactic
against atopic disease – including
atopic eczema, food allergy, and respiratory
allergy – throughout childhood and adolescence.”
They noted that six months of
breastfeeding are needed to protect against
eczema in the first three years of life and
possibly also against more serious allergies
in puberty.
Respiratory infections and otitis media
Many studies show that the risk for infections
of the respiratory tract increas-
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