The importance of breastfeeding in minimizing mortality and morbidity from diarrhoeal diseases: the Bangladesh perspective.

Despite world-wide promotion of breastfeeding, there is a declining trend in breastfeeding practice in many developed as well as developing countries. In these countries, health planners are faced with the difficult task of re-educating women on the value of breastfeeding. In this context, it is useful to review the role of breastfeeding in combating infectious diseases, especially childhood diarrhoea, and in preventing deaths. Studies have shown that the duration of benefits of breastfeeding in diarrhoea can range from a few months to several years. However, breastfeeding is not consistently protective in all types of diarrhoea. For example, there is evidence of increased risk of rotavirus diarrhoea in breastfed children compared to non-breastfed children after certain age. Impairment of child growth…