A new study supports the benefits of breastfeeding, in this case at the nutritional level.
The report, published in the International Breastfeeding Journal, confirms that term babies fed only with breast milk are not at risk of having iron deficit at 6 months.
According to the study, this data is also valid even when mothers have suffered iron deficiencies during pregnancy. A complete nutrition then, although breast milk is low in iron, the baby is born with enough reserves to prevent its deficiency in the first six months.
The team of researchers (from the University College of Medical Sciences in Delhi) carried out the study controlling 129 full-term babies of 68 women with normal iron stores and 61 mothers with iron deficiency anemia. The women took iron and folic acid supplements, but their babies were only fed by breast milk, without any supplement.
At 6 months of age, the result was that none of the babies had iron deficit, regardless of whether the mother had been anemic. Babies are able to perfectly absorb this mineral that reaches them from breast milk, and there are also reserves.
But nevertheless, The data from this research are not applicable to premature babies, since their iron reserves at birth are very low; Only in these cases it is advisable to provide supplements of this mineral to nursing babies.
For the rest of nursing babies, in general, and following the recommendations of the WHO, the ingestion of foods fortified with iron, such as infant cereal, will be from 6 months of age.
