NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who breastfeed evidently lower the chances that their baby might die of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, according to a German study.

Dr. M. M. Vennemann, from the University of Munster, and colleagues therefore recommend that public health messages aimed at SIDS risk-reduction should encourage women to breastfeed their infant through 6 months of age.

The study included 333 infants who died of SIDS and 998 age-matched "control" infants.

Exclusive breastfeeding at 1 month cut the risk of SIDS in half. Partial breastfeeding at this point was also tied to a reduced risk, although that could have been a chance finding.

These results add "to the body of evidence showing that breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS, and that this protection continues as long as the infant is breastfed," the investigators conclude.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, March 2009.