Breast gives right weight

BABIES who are breastfed for the first three months of their life are more likely to maintain a healthy weight potentially up to the age of 20, research coled by a Tasmanian-based researcher has found.

More than 6700 babies across Australia and Europe were studied and the pool of data is published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The babies had their weight and height measured once or twice a year until they were six years old.

After adjusting for several factors, researchers found babies who had been entirely breastfed for the first three months or longer were almost twice as likely to maintain a healthy weight up to six years.

University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Research professor Wendy Oddy led the Australian section of the study using data from the West Australian Pregnancy Cohort.

Prof Oddy was involved with the research for 20 years, starting at the Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia before relocating to Menzies.

“Our observations indicate that if full breastfeeding stops before three months of age, children are at greater risk of becoming overweight, even through to 20 years of age,” Prof Oddy said.

“This adds to the existing World Health Organisation evidence that, if possible, mothers should aim to fully breastfeed their baby beyond three months, and ideally, fully breastfeed until six months and beyond up to two years of age.”

The collection of data used in the Australian part of the study began more than 20 years ago, allowing researchers to follow more than 1000 children as young adults.

They measured weight, height, skinfold and fat mass measurements and found an association between rapid growth at six years and being overweight or obese at 20 years of age.

“This study was different because we looked at the growth trajectories, so how babies grow and you could see that babies who weren’t fully breastfed at least for the first three months seemed to have more rapid growth,” Prof Oddy said.

“That’s a risk factor because children who grow quickly and put on more weight in very early infancy are more prone to being overweight or obese in childhood and that seems to carry on through to adulthood.”

First-time mum Carrie Burns, 32, of Mountain River, gave birth to daughter Evie on Tuesday night at Calvary Hospital in Lenah Valley.

She said the help of lactation specialists at the hospital had been invaluable.

“You think it’s going to come naturally, but there’s so many tricks and techniques they can pass on that make it a little bit easier,” she said.

“The plan was always going to be breastfeeding if we could manage it.”