Hi,
Caro, I don't think that is actually factually correct. Less than 10% of Australian babies now make it to 6mnths without solids or artificial milks. This is probably as high a rate of "other" feeding ast here has ever been. And it has only been in the last couple of years that Australian Health authorities have recommended solids begin at 6mnths. Even the last big study (that's on the belly belly pages - prob under news and current affairs) demonstrated that exclusive breastfeeding for 6 mnths reduced the rate of eczema. The hypthesis that breastfeeding reduces asthma came in for mixed results - showing that children who were exclusively breastfed for 6mnths or more (and in their study "esclusive" didn't actually mean "exclusive") had a lower incidence of asthma up until the age of 7, but between the ages of 7 and the early forties there was no difference, or maybe slightly higher correlation between breastfeeding and asthma. But it's not at all clear....
Regards
Barb