Breastfeeding can protect infants against severe vomiting

Breastfeeding may protect infants against the development of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS), according to study by three Maltese pediatricians, namely Victor Grech, Chris Fearne and Cecil Vella, based on an analysis of IHPS collected between 1995 and 2007.

Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is a condition which causes severe projectile non-bilious vomiting in the first few months of life.

IHPS is the most common condition requiring surgical intervention in the first year of life.

A total of 125 patients with infantile IHPS were identified between 1995 and 2007.Records were obtained from Hospital Activity Analysis reports which record all activity within the only general hospital on the island of Malta.

The case notes of 86 patients were obtained as the rest could not be traced.

The study revealed that 71 patients (82.5% of all patients) had been formula-fed from day one, while only 10 patients were exclusively breastfed. Five patients were breastfed and supplemented with the formula at presentation. Overall, the incidence dropped from 2.7 per 1,000 live births before 1999 to 1.6 per 1,000 live births after 2005.

A similar decline was noted in other European studies.

This decrease in incidence could be linked to a decrease in formula feeding and a concurrent increase in breastfeeding. But there is no supporting biological data for this claim.

IHPC is also more common in Caucasians and is relatively uncommon in Africa and Asia.

The report was published in the Malta Medical Journal.