Sleeping with a baby boosts breast-feeding

 

  

New mothers who bring their babies into their bed are more likely to carry on breastfeeding for longer, a new study found.

But those who go to the baby’s cot are more likely to stop breastfeeding before six months.

Breast milk is the healthiest way to feed a baby and the NHS recommends exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months.

Thereafter giving the baby breast milk alongside other food help the babies continue to grow and develop healthily.

It said breastfed babies have less chance of diarrhoea and vomiting, fewer chest and ear infections, less likelihood of becoming obese and therefore developing type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses later in life.

Breast milk is the healthiest way to feed a baby and the NHS recommend exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months 

They have fewer hospital visits and the longer breastfeed, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits.

The Durham University study found those mothers who bed shared with their infant for at least an hour a week were more likely to carry on breast feeding past six months.

And those who expressed a desire to breast feed during pregnancy were more likely to bed share too.

Professor Helen Ball of the Parent-Infant Sleep Lab in the, Department of Anthropology said: “”We previously found that mothers who bed-share were twice as likely to breastfeed their baby for at least six months than mothers who began breastfeeding but didn’t bed-share.

“In this paper we show that mothers with the strongest intent to breastfeed are the ones who sleep with their babies the most.

“These mothers therefore need information on how to make bed-sharing while breastfeeding as safe as possible.

New mothers who bring their babies into their bed are more likely to carry on breastfeeding for longer, a new study found

“Women with strong motivation to breastfeed frequently bed-share.

“Given the complex relationship between bed-sharing and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) appropriate guidance balancing risk minimisation with support for breastfeeding mothers is crucial.”

The study published in Acta Paediatrica followed 678 women recruited at mid-pregnancy.

They were asked whether recommendations to avoid bed-sharing due to concerns such as SIDS may stop them from achieving their breastfeeding goals

The women provided weekly snapshots of breastfeeding and bed-sharing behaviour for 26 weeks following birth.

Bed-sharing at home was defined for at least one hour per week.

It found 299 women or 44 per cent “rarely” or “never” bed-shared, 192 or 28 per cent did so “intermittently” and 187 or 28 per cent did so “often.”

These three groups did not differ significantly in marital status, income, infant gestational age, maternal age or delivery mode.

Significantly more participants who bed-shared “often” reported strong prenatal breastfeeding intent at 70 per cent compared to 57 per cent and 56 per cent of women in the “intermittent” and “rare” bed-share groups.

They also attached high prenatal importance to breastfeeding at 95 per cent compared to 87 per cent and 82 per cent respectively.

Significantly more women who bed-shared frequently were breastfeeding at six months than those who intermittently or rarely bed-shared.