breastfeeding is associated with decreased hospitalization for neonatal fever background breastfeeding is the recommended method for feeding newborns and infants it confers significant health benefits upon both infant and mother and provides developmental social and economic advantagesobjective this study explored possible correlations between breastfeeding and neonatal fever nfmaterials and methods one hundred and forty infants hospitalized for fever during the first month of life nf were identified by retrospective chart review these were matched with healthy infants born on the same day in the study hospital and who were not hospitalized in the first month of life a structured telephone interview to determine breastfeeding practice was conducted with the parents of all study participantsresults the prevalence of children who were formula fed or only partially breastfed was significantly higher among hospitalized children compared to healthy controls 66 versus 34 respectively p0001 this association remained after adjusting for exposure to smoke gender and household crowding exposure to household smoke was also independently associated with hospitalization for nfconclusion increased rates of breastfeeding should result in fewer hospitalizations for nf fewer laboratory investigations less intravenous antibiotic therapy and its complications and lower indirect expenses this study demonstrates that exclusive or predominant breastfeeding as opposed to formula or partial breastfeeding of infants less than 1 month of age reduces the risk of nfrelated hospitalization by over twofold our data provide new evidence of the health benefits of breastfeeding the retrospective nature of the study and possible recall bias are limitations of the study