The Effect of Breastfeeding on the Rate of Infections in the First 2 Years of Life

Purpose: To investigate the effect of duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and duration of breastfeeding (BF) on the rate of infections during the first 2 years of life. Methods: The study group consisted of healthy infants who admitted to the outpatient Healthy Child Clinics for their routine control. Results: In 200 healthy term infants enrolled, the mean duration of EBF and total duration of BF were 4.2 +/- 2.8 and 11.6 +/- 5.3 months, respectively. In those without any infection (42.5%), duration of EBF and total duration of BF were 5.9 +/- 0.4 and 13.4 +/- 4.6 months, respectively while in those with 1 infection (29.5%) and >= 2 infections (28%), it was 4.6 +/- 3.3 and 11.8 +/- 4.6 months and 1.3 +/- 1.9 and 8.7 +/- 5.9 months, respectively. This difference between each group was stastistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our study showed that increased duration of EBF and increased duration of BF were associated with lower infection rate in infants in the first 2 years of life.