Citation:
Patnode CD, Henrikson NB, Webber EM, et al. Breastfeeding and Health Outcomes for Infants and Children: A Systematic Review. Pediatrics. 2025;156(1):e2025071516.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2025-071516
This article is a review of the evidence on the association between breastfeeding and child health outcomes. Systematic literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL for English-language articles published from 2006 through August 14, 2024.
RESULTS:
Twenty-nine existing systematic reviews and 145 primary studies were included. A consistent association indicating reduced risk with more versus less breastfeeding was found for moderate-to-severe respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, otitis media, allergic rhinitis, asthma, malocclusion, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, rapid infant weight gain and growth, obesity, high systolic blood pressure, childhood leukemia, and infant mortality.
No clear threshold of breastfeeding duration appeared to be most beneficial for any specific outcome. There were also limited data on whether results varied by mode of feeding (direct vs expressed milk) or by the source of milk (parent’s own milk vs donor milk).
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