Contents:
- Medical Video: Asthma in children: Guidelines for primary care management
- How does breast milk reduce the risk of asthma in children?
- Which must be considered to reduce the risk of asthma in children
Medical Video: Asthma in children: Guidelines for primary care management
Happy not only when a mother gives birth to the baby to the world, but also when giving breast milk to the baby. Breast milk, which is the best food for babies, has many great benefits for growing baby's health, one of which is reducing the risk of asthma in children.
How does breast milk reduce the risk of asthma in children?
Asthma has far more harmful effects when it afflicts babies, this is because babies have an imperfect body immune system like adults. Indeed, asthma is a disorder of the respiratory system which results in patients feeling difficult to breathe.
According to a new study, breast milk reduces the risk of asthma and is inversely proportional to babies who are not breastfed at the start of their age. Asthma symptoms are generally easy to know, and will develop as the child grows older. Symptoms of asthma for adults include wheezing (sound dumbfounded which is produced when air flows through a narrowed airway), coughing, and the chest feels tight.
Will be even more dangerous if asthma occurs in children. The very small space of the airways and lungs will hurt them and the symptoms may be more severe than the symptoms of adults. While the causes of symptoms and asthma have not been found with definite conclusions. The temporary conclusion that can be obtained is that asthma is caused by environmental and genetic factors of the baby itself.
Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have conducted a study that concluded, the relationship between breast milk and asthma is related to the 17q21 gene variant located on the region of chromosome 17, which means that the gene has the potential to develop asthma in your baby. However, the study also explained that mothers who gave breast milk to their children were able to protect their children from the 17q21 gene variant, which caused a person to develop asthma early on.
Which must be considered to reduce the risk of asthma in children
According to doctor Liesbeth Duijts, Erasmus researcher in the Netherlands, children who have never been breastfed are nearly 50% at risk of developing adult asthma later. Whereas children who were only given formula or milk other than breast milk had a 20% risk of developing asthma. So it is important to give breast milk for approximately 2 years to children. Here are some other causes and ways to prevent children from developing asthma at an early age related to pregnancy:
- If women smoke while pregnant, this will increase the risk of asthma in children who will be born.
- Children who previously did not have asthma but were often exposed to cigarette smoke, could be exposed to asthma symptoms that would attack the child due to exposure to free radicals from the smoke.
- Also consider your environment that will affect children's health, especially the respiratory system.
- Avoid environments that have high air pollution, such as exposure to gas, oil, or pollution from firewood smoke. This can irritate your child's bronchial tract, and later the chances of developing asthma will be very large.
- Use an air filter system in your home to reduce the amount of dust and other pollutants.
- If indeed your child has asthma, to prevent the relapse of asthma, avoid cigarette smoke in the environment. Ask people around not to smoke in your home or around your child.
