Infant Feeding, Lower Respiratory Infection and Child Physical Growth: Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Breast milk contains factors such as lymphocytes, neutrophils, cytokines, and antibodies that actively promote and activate the infant's immune system while also facilitating growth, immunity, and the proper immune response.

Aims: To compare between types of feeding during infancy in relation to lower respiratory infection, and physical growth during first year.

Method : This study was conducted through a convenience  sampling  on (50) hospitalized child with lower chest infection.

Results: There is about 74% of children with lower respiratory infection take artificial feeding and about 90.3% of them infected with pneumonia and fifth 20% of sample’s BMI with in 85th percentile. The result show that a significant differences between type of feeding in relation to lower respiratory infection, while there is no significant differences  between type of feeding in relation to physical growth..

Conclusion: Children who take breast feeding have less incidence of  lower respiratory infection in relation to those who take artificial feeding (bottle feeding) as they having a large incidence of lower respiratory infection , and there is  a significance differences between them. In addition, the large percentage of those who take bottle feeding with in normal range of  MBI percentile and there is no significance differences between groups in relation to physical growth.

Recommendations: There is a need to increase and development of educational training courses,  seminars and workshop that held by governmental and non-governmental agencies about the important of breast feeding during the first 6 months of life.