Association Between Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Preschool Children Enrolled in the Study to Explore Early Development.
Gnakub N Soke, Matthew Maenner, Gayle Windham and 4 others
PMID 30852853WHAT IT FOUND
Breastfeeding initiation did not differ between children with autism and controls after accounting for family and pregnancy factors.
Among breastfed children, those with autism were breastfed for shorter durations.
Key findings
01Breastfeeding initiation did not differ between children with autism and controls after accounting for child, mother, and family characteristics.
02Among breastfed children, those with autism were less likely to be in the longest or middle breastfeeding duration groups than in the shortest group.
03The difference in breastfeeding duration appeared early and persisted: fewer children with autism were still breastfed by 6 months, and the difference remained at 20 months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study measured breastfeeding and autism status at one time point, so it cannot show which came first. Breastfeeding duration was recalled up to 5 years after birth. The study did not collect detailed breastfeeding practices, such as exclusive, predominant, or partial breastfeeding, or reasons mothers stopped breastfeeding. The control sample included more families with higher socioeconomic status than the case families and differed from the source population, so some selection bias is possible. The study used six non-random sites, so the results may not apply to other areas. The sample was not large enough to examine associations within narrower autism subgroups.
Declared interests
No conflict-of-interest or funding declaration is included in the supplied article text. The publication types indicate U.S. government and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that breastfeeding duration changes autism risk. The study cannot show cause, and the breastfeeding initiation association disappeared after accounting for family and pregnancy factors.