Babies who started solids slept better: study – BusinessGhana News

According to a new analysis of clinical trial data, babies who start their sleep at three months sleep better than infants exclusively breastfed up to six months of age.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of infancy, after which the solids can be introduced.

The new data comes from the study Inquiring About Tolerance (EAT), which focused on 1,303 infants could help prevent food allergies. The EAT study showed that introducing small amounts of allergenic foods in younger babies helped reduce the risk of food allergies. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Australian government and others have modified their infant feeding guidelines to reflect the results published in 2016.

Michael Perkin, Population Health Research Institute and St. George's Hospital, both in London The results of the new analysis suggest that better sleep could be another benefit of solid beginners.

As reported in JAMA Pediatrics, Perkin and colleagues compared infant sleep and maternal quality of life among participants in the EAT. Infants in the early introduction group started taking solids at about 16 weeks, on average, compared to 23 weeks in the standard introduction group

In five months, babies who had started to Eating earlier slept longer than those whose mothers breastfed exclusively for six months. The difference peaked at the age of six months, with the early introduction group having slept an average of nearly 17 minutes longer and persisting after the infant's first birthday. Infants who started getting up early also woke up about nine percent less often.

The "most clinically important finding," said Dr. Perkin, was that parents of babies having started earlier

"There was an extremely strong relationship between the quality of life of the mother and infant sleep, what you anticipate, "he added. "If the baby sleeps badly, the quality of life of the mother is very clearly affected."

The findings provide solid evidence to support the long-held belief that feeding solid infants helps them sleep better, Dr. Jae Kim, a neonatologist at the University of California at San Diego and Radey Children & Hospital of San Diego, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. "This is a study well designed to answer this question," he said.

"Regarding the recommendations for mothers and their children, I think that it is always important to try to breastfeed exclusively for breastfeeding." When awakenings frequent nocturnal infants cause worry and anxiety, parents can consult their pediatrician to find out if it is appropriate to start eating solid food, "said Dr. Kim. But the results do not mean that parents should feel free to give solid food to infants under six months to improve their sleep, he added.The early introduction of solids could harm infants who do not are not ready to chew and swallow, he explained, while solid foods can also lead to early weaning, thus reducing the benefits of breastfeeding.

is actually a good thing for babies – although it can clearly help parents, Kim noted. He adds that babies who sleep more can consume less breast milk, he adds.

"There is a bit of polarization around this problem," he said. "It's good to have studies like this one to carve real data to help manage this problem."