Girls get more protection from breastfeeding than boys?

A new study out of the John Hopkins Children's Center is reported in the June issue of Pediatrics:

Doctors monitored 119 premature babies through their first year of life and found that girls who received formula were eight times more likely to be hospitalised with respiratory illnesses than those weaned on breast milk.

But breastfeeding did not have the same protective effect on boys. Nearly a fifth of boys developed respiratory infections severe enough to need hospital treatment, whether they were breastfed or not. 1



1. Sample, I. (2008, 2 June) Study finds breastfed girls protected from chest illness, The Guardian