Breastfed and UTI's

[LeosMama]

I would like to see a study to compare breastfeeding/ffeeding and UTI rates in male infants for the first 12 months. You have to control for circ status.

As in, do intact boys who get breastmilk for 12 months really get significantly more UTI's than cut boys who get breastmilk, or cut boys who get formula?

[mamaverdi]

Breastfeeding protects babies and moms against UTIs. Look in the Breastfeeding resource center. I have the study somewhere on my computer. I doubt study controlled for intact v. circ'ed.

In my opinion circ'ing would increase UTI rates, but I've heard from several urologists that their experience is the same as another poster mentioned, in the first 9 months or so, intact boys are the ones they see with UTIs v. circ'ed boys, then after that, the rates are basically equal.

Also, urinary tract anomalies are higher in boys in general, and in boys who have a UTI, it is much more likely that they have an anomaly. I can't remember the rate, but it was significantly over 50%.... And this was calculating including countries where boys are not routinely circ'ed as infants.

mv

[mamaverdi]

http://www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/Biospec.htm

"Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)

Breastfed infants have a relative risk of developing a UTI of 0.38 compared to formula-fed infants. Pisacane A et al. "Breast-feeding and urinary tract infection." J Pediatr 1992 Jan;120(1):87-9

The oligosaccharide content of breast-milk and urine from nursing mothers is very similar, and the pattern of oligosaccharides excreted by infants is also strongly correlated with that of breastmilk. The oligosaccharides cause inhibition of bacterial adhesion, suggesting that breastfeeding may have a preventive effect on urinary tract infection in both mother and infant. Coppa GV et al. "Preliminary study of breastfeeding and bacterial adhesion to uroepithelial cells." Lancet 1990 Mar 10;335(8689):569-71"