How Breastfeeding benefits Mothers' health (Article)

nesf

A very interesting article looking at the different ways that breastfeeding boosts the health outcomes for mothers. The breast cancer risk decrease is relatively widely known but this article covers many of the lesser known results such as breastfeeding reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=breastfeeding-benefits-mothers

cbyrd

Wow mother nature certainly knows what she's doing

cynder

I breast fed for 2.5 years.

I think its rubbish.
I think its down to whos genes you inherited.



Breast fed babies are supposed to be healthier and my lady got chest infections with every tooth she cut, got chronic tooth decay (8 teeth removed at 3 and 2 removed at 6) and ended up diabetic at 7.

My bottle fed boys dont get sick as often as she did.

bogtotty

Research like this makes me so depressed. Why oh why are breastfeeding rates so low in this country when it's so obvious that breastfeeding should be the normal way to feed a child, for the sake of mum and baby? Why do we allow ourselves to be so completely duped by formula companies? I'm so sick of being regarded as some perverted hippy because I'm 'still' breastfeeding my 9-month-old. Both my parents died young because of diseases mentioned in this report. I'll do anything to be around longer for my kid. If it benefits him too, so much the better.

ebmma

grindelwald wrote: »

I breast fed for 2.5 years.

I think its rubbish.
I think its down to whos genes you inherited.


Breast fed babies are supposed to be healthier and my lady got chest infections with every tooth she cut, got chronic tooth decay (8 teeth removed at 3 and 2 removed at 6) and ended up diabetic at 7.

My bottle fed boys don't get sick as often as she did.

no offense, but breastfeeding is not a magic potion.
Bottle fed babies are at a higher risk for infections, obesity, diabetes etc. It doesn't mean that every single breastfed baby is going to be a picture of perfect health.
If the entire world switch to exclusive breastfeeding tomorrow there still will be sick kids, diabetic kids, etc just A LOT LESS of them.

also do you think your little girl could have been better off on bottles?
she could have developed diabetes a lot earlier if you didn't breastfeed you don't know that.
Sometimes there's just bad luck.

cynder

As i said before if its in your genes breast feeding isnt going to stop it.


My daughter has the diabetic gene she would have got it sooner or later. All she needed was an infection to attack her pancreas to trigger it.
The same might go for the boys.

I nearly got diabetes towards the end of my 3d pregnancy, if i get pregnant again chances are i will get it. but then again i have had 2 babies over 4kgs, and a prem baby at 35 weeks at 3.5kgs.

I think if your gonna get it, your gonna get it, regardless of breast feeding.

Also she wouldn't of got the chronic tooth decay if she was bottle fed. The dentist made it quiet clear that breast milk is sweet and contributed to her tooth decay.


The reason i didnt feed my boys is because my second baby was born premature and couldn't latch on, after bottle feeding him i decided that the 3rd guy would be bottle fed as well. I dont think my boys have lost out because they wernt breast fed and they have nice healthy teeth too..

nesf

grindelwald wrote: »

As i said before if its in your genes breast feeding isnt going to stop it.

Interestingly (from the article) for mothers the breastfeeding reduction of the chance of breast cancer seems to still happen for women who have a genetic history of breast cancer i.e. women with siblings or mothers who developed the condition. Even if you have the genes for it, breastfeeding seems to offer some protection.


On a side point, the genetic/environment interplay is very complex. It's not as simple as if you have the genes you develop the disease for the majority of conditions with a genetic component. There are some that are that simple, like Tay Sachs, but stuff like breast cancer is more complicated than that and environmental factors like breastfeeding still play a strong role.

cynder

I still dont buy it, Has it followed them from motherhood until old age 80+?

My family have no history of cancer in any shape or size very large family, my mother has 2 brothers and 5 sisters all over 58 all in good health. I check my breasts every time im in the shower because i dont believe im at a reduced risk from breast cancer because i have no family history and have breast fed, It can happen any time and im not dropping my guard.

littlebug

It's an interesting read.

Grindelwald it doesn't say that people who breastfeed have no risk but reduced risk so no... no one should drop their guard. There will always be a number of people who get these diseases despite breastfeeding because of the number of complex factors involved as nesf pointed out, both genetic and environmental, but if breastfeeding can counteract some of those factors and reduce risk then that can't be a bad thing.

nesf

grindelwald wrote: »

I still dont buy it, Has it followed them from motherhood until old age 80+?

My family have no history of cancer in any shape or size very large family, my mother has 2 brothers and 5 sisters all over 58 all in good health. I check my breasts every time im in the shower because i dont believe im at a reduced risk from breast cancer because i have no family history and have breast fed, It can happen any time and im not dropping my guard.

Reduced risk means hopefully not getting something there are no guarantees so one should continue with regular checks etc to guard against it happening. No woman should drop her guard about breast cancer just because she breastfed or did anything else that reduced her risk of developing it.

cynder

im all for breast feeding i just think its over-rated.

D rog

Some people aren't duped by Formula companies, some people don't want to breastfeed. And isn't it great that we all have the choice.

PS- also I'd say rates are so low due to the lack of available people to help new mothers breast feed in the hospitals. It's something I've heard of a lot, people trying to get help and it not being available or any good.

Grawns

I agree about the help in hospitals being inadequate. If it was up to them my daughter would have been on bottles by day 2. I had zero help despite requests. Luckily I had an excellent breastfeeding book and confidence in myself. Haved loved breastfeeding and never had a problem with it. Not so much as cracked nipple. As to the health aspects, I must admit I'm disappointed about the baby weight. You can't really diet while breastfeeding and you are very hungry in the beginning. Still breastfeeding at 15 months but the end is in sight and then I can zap the last 5 kgs

Bridget has never had an antibiotic but has developed asthma .

lonestargirl

nesf wrote: »

Interestingly (from the article) for mothers the breastfeeding reduction of the chance of breast cancer seems to still happen for women who have a genetic history of breast cancer i.e. women with siblings or mothers who developed the condition. Even if you have the genes for it, breastfeeding seems to offer some protection.


On a side point, the genetic/environment interplay is very complex. It's not as simple as if you have the genes you develop the disease for the majority of conditions with a genetic component. There are some that are that simple, like Tay Sachs, but stuff like breast cancer is more complicated than that and environmental factors like breastfeeding still play a strong role.

Only a small percentage of breast cancers are genetic, about 10% of cases are associated with one of the two BRCA genes. Just because a mother/sister has breast cancer doesn't necessarily follow that there is a genetic component to your disease, the random chance of getting breast cancer is quite high anyway.

nesf

lonestargirl wrote: »

Only a small percentage of breast cancers are genetic, about 10% of cases are associated with one of the two BRCA genes. Just because a mother/sister has breast cancer doesn't necessarily follow that there is a genetic component to your disease, the random chance of getting breast cancer is quite high anyway.

True, but the odds of 3 closely related people all developing the same disease randomly are quite small versus the chance of them fitting into the 10% of cases. It doesn't automatically follow that it's genetic but it's highly likely to be if a mother and her two daughters develop it.

lonestargirl

nesf wrote: »

True, but the odds of 3 closely related people all developing the same disease randomly are quite small versus the chance of them fitting into the 10% of cases. It doesn't automatically follow that it's genetic but it's highly likely to be if a mother and her two daughters develop it.

Very true.

What I was trying to say is that the majority of breast cancers are not genetic they are related to environmental/lifestyle facotors therefore we should be aiming to minimise our exposure to these factors (smoking, obesity etc.) as much as possible. It seems that breastfeeding reduces the risk also and that is something to be considered by new mothers in making their decision about feeding.

Edit: I see from the Interal Medicine article that the benefit is present even in those who have a family history. That is pretty immpresive to me considering how high the risk of breast cancer is if you are BRCA+ (approx 80% over your lifetime).