DOES AGE AT THE START OF BREAST-FEEDING INFLUENCE INFANTILE DIARRHEA MORBIDITY - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY IN PERIURBAN GUINEA-BISSAU

Colostrum protects the newborn from intestinal infection by its conten t of secretory immunoglobulin A and other immediately acting factors. It may also induce maturation of the child's gastrointestinal immune d efences, thus contributing to the protection against diarrhoeal diseas e later in infancy. To test this hypothesis, a case-control study on b reast feeding and diarrhoea was carried out in a periurban community i n Guinea-Bissau. The child's age at the start of breast feeding was as certained soon after birth (n = 279). Subsequent cases of acute diarrh oea (n = 66) were identified at 3-monthly examinations, and four concu rrent controls were randomly selected among attendants. Three separate estimates of association showed that the cases tended to have started breast feeding later after birth than the diarrhoea-free controls, bu t no single test was statistically significant. Early breast feeding m ight have consequences for diarrhoeal morbidity after the neonatal per iod.