The Relationship of Breastfeeding to Antimicrobial Exposure in the First Year of Life

We assessed the relationship between breastfeeding and antimicrobial use in the first year of life in healthy infants by surveying a military population of healthy term infants with questionnaires obtained at the 6-month and 12-month well-baby visits. Breastfed (BF) babies spent 48% as much time receiving antimicrobials by 6 months of age and 47.4% by 12 months of age as compared to formula-fed peers. Breastfed babies also showed significant differences in use of second-line agents at both 6 months (BF=5.5%, Non-BF=19%) and 12 months (19% BF, nonBF=36.9%). These results suggest that breastfeeding decreases exposure of infants to antimicrobials throughout the first year of life and also decreases use of second-line antibiotics in the first year of life.