Nutrients, Vol. 18, Pages 1498: Breastfeeding Recommendations: Torn Between Evidence and Emotions—A Commentary
Nutrients doi: 10.3390/nu18101498
Authors:
Berthold V. Koletzko
Frank Jochum
Martina Kohl-Sobania
Walter A. Mihatsch
Diana Rubin
The recently published German evidence-based guideline on “Breastfeeding Duration” recommends that infants in Germany should be exclusively or predominantly breastfed for 6 months, with a total breastfeeding duration of 12 months. These recommendations rely exclusively on low- and very low-certainty evidence, and fall short of what would be expected for an evidence-based guideline. The guideline has been criticized by a large number of eight professional organizations, which is very unusual. As delegates or deputy delegates of our respective medical-scientific societies participating in the six-year guideline development process, we disagree with the published guideline recommendations and present here our key methodological and content-related concerns. In our view, there is no sufficient evidence that would demonstrate superiority of the proposed recommendation with respect to benefits and harms compared to the long-standing recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for 4–6 months and continued breastfeeding for as long as mother and child desire for healthy populations in Germany and Western Europe.
The recently published German evidence-based guideline on “Breastfeeding Duration” recommends that infants in Germany should be exclusively or predominantly breastfed for 6 months, with a total breastfeeding duration of 12 months. These recommendations rely exclusively on low- and very low-certainty evidence, and fall short of what would be expected for an evidence-based guideline. The guideline has been criticized by a large number of eight professional organizations, which is very unusual. As delegates or deputy delegates of our respective medical-scientific societies participating in the six-year guideline development process, we disagree with the published guideline recommendations and present here our key methodological and content-related concerns. In our view, there is no sufficient evidence that would demonstrate superiority of the proposed recommendation with respect to benefits and harms compared to the long-standing recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for 4–6 months and continued breastfeeding for as long as mother and child desire for healthy populations in Germany and Western Europe. Read More