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Association of breastfeeding practices during the first 12 months and subsequent infant respiratory tract infections: a prospective cohort study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 79, pages 345–350 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standards for infant feeding and nutrition.

Objectives

We aimed to examine the association of breastfeeding practices during the first year of life with subsequent infant respiratory tract infections (RTIs).

Methods

The study was a secondary analysis embedded in the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort study. Information on infant breastfeeding was collected at 3, 6, and 12 months of age. Pediatrician-diagnosed infant RTIs and hospitalization for RTIs during 12–24 months were obtained at 24 months postpartum. Robust log-Poisson regression models were applied to explore the association of breastfeeding practices with RTIs risk and hospitalization due to RTIs.

Results

Among the 5242 infants studied, 13.1% (n = 435) of infants received full breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding for at least one year (F6-L). When compared with infants in the F6-L group, those who were formula fed (FF) had a higher risk of RTIs, including upper RTIS and lower RTIS, the adjusted RRs (95%CIs) were 1.34 (1.17, 1.53), 1.31 (1.12, 1.52), 1.59 (1.10, 2.31), respectively. When compared with infants in the F6-L group, the adjusted RRs (95%CIs) for hospitalization from RTIs was 1.88 (1.20, 2.95) for the FF group.

Conclusion

Full breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding for at least one year was associated with a lower risk of subsequent infant RTIs and hospitalization from RTIs.

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Data availability

Data described in the manuscript, code book, and analytic code are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the children, families, and hospital staff who participated in this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Program on Basic Research Project of China (2019FY101003 and 2013FY114200). The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study. NY was in receipt of grants.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, MOE Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 430030, Wuhan, China

    Weiming Wang, Menghan Tu, Li Huang, Xu Zhang, Xi Chen, Lixia Lin, Xuefeng Yang, Liping Hao & Nianhong Yang

Authors
  1. Weiming Wang
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  2. Menghan Tu
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  3. Li Huang
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  4. Xu Zhang
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  5. Xi Chen
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  6. Lixia Lin
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  7. Xuefeng Yang
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  8. Liping Hao
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  9. Nianhong Yang
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Contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—WW conceptualized and designed the study, collected data, conducted the statistical analyses, and drafted the initial manuscript; MT, LH, XZ, XC, and LL contributed to data acquisition and critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content. XY, LHao, and NY contributed to data supervised, interpretation, and reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content. NY reviewed and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, contributed to data interpretation, and supervised. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nianhong Yang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Informed consents were obtained from all participants at enrollment. The Ethics Review Committee of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology approved this study (No. 201302).

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Wang, W., Tu, M., Huang, L. et al. Association of breastfeeding practices during the first 12 months and subsequent infant respiratory tract infections: a prospective cohort study. Eur J Clin Nutr 79, 345–350 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-024-01558-x

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