3^rd World Congress on
Pediatrics and Neonatology

Biography:

Afaf Korraa is a chief in the pediatrics department, AL- Azhar University. She completed her MD in 1990 and Nutritional diploma in 2009. she was a International lactation consultant from 2008 to 2009. She has 4 international published papers and more than 40 nationally published papers. Afaf Korraa is member of ILCA, Egyptian Pediatric Society and also editor of Egyptian Neonatal Safety Newsletter.

Abstract:

Background: There is growing evidence that breastfeeding improves the brain development of infants. Researchers have discovered that breastfeeding alone produces the best results for boosting a baby’s brain growth. Breastfeeding can increase a baby’s brain growth by 20 to 30 percent. Our aim was to compare the type of  feeding on sonographic brain changes in the first 6 months of life from July 2016 to April 2017. Subjects and Methods: It was analytical comparative study carried out our patient clinic of Al-Azhar university hospital. Fifty healthy infants at 6 months age deliverd  fullterm were included in the study. Congenital anomalies, chromosomal abnormalities, sepsis, jaundice, those with drug could affect affect the brain were excluded. We split the infants into three groups: those whose mothers reported they exclusively breastfed for at least six months, those fed a combination of breastmilk and formula (mixed), and those fed formula alone. Maternal and neonatal history including (feeding history), general examination including anthropometric and vital signs, neurological examination were done. Transfontanel ultrasound examination were performed for all infants. It was performed while the infant in supine position or holded by their mothers. The scan was performed in coronal, sagittal plan for measurement of the length of corpus callosum and the transverse diameter of the fourth ventricle in mid sagittal plan, and  parasagittal plans. The probes used were multifrequency curvilinear probe with transducer ranging from 3-5 MHZ in all cases, transducer ranging from 7-10 MHZ Right and Left ventricular horn ratio, length of corpus callosum. Results: Significant increase in right horn ventricular ratio in formula feeding and mixed feeding infants than exclusive breastfeeding infants (4.10 ± 0.23, 4.12 ± 0.29, 3.72 ± 0.54 2.8)  (ANOVA, 5.233 P value 0.009 ) respectively. Significant increase in left venricle horn ratio in formula fed and mixed in comparison to breast fed infants respectively (4.30 ± 0.65, 4.28 ± 0.69, 3.57 ± 0.98 (ANOVA 4.551,P value  0.015 ). No significant differ in length of corpus callosum between the 3 studied groups. Conclusion: enlarged ventricles diameters in infants feeds artificial or mixed milk may be associated with neurolodevelopmetal changes in the future. These findings add to a substantial body of research that finds positive associations between breastfeeding and children's brain/developmental health.