Does Nighttime Breastfeeding Increase Obesity in Babies?

Abstract

Co-sleeping has been practiced throughout human evolution and refers to mother and child sleeping in the same bed. In recent decades, some Western cultures have proposed avoiding co-sleeping due to the risk of sudden death in infants under 4 months of age. This could contradict the custom of mothers sleeping with their breastfed babies, a practice that fosters maternal-child bonding with a better response from the mother to the child's needs for shelter, affection and nourishment, allowing for nighttime breastfeeding on demand. This study aims to contribute to the recognition of the relationship between nighttime breastfeeding and the nutritional status of infants and to determine whether it provides protection against malnutrition or obesity in children in this age group.