|
Advantages Continued ...
Long Term
Benefits for Infants
a. Dental Health
Among breastfed infants, the longer the duration of nursing the lower the incidents of
malocclusion.
Source: Labbok, M.H. "Does Breast Feeding Protect against Malocclusion? An
Analysis of the 1981 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview
Survey". American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1987.
b. Toddler Health
Mothers of 67 infants were questioned about the types and duration of illness episodes
requiring medical care between 16 and 30 months of age. Breastfeeding was noted to
decrease the number of infant illnesses and indirectly improve toddler health.
Source: Gulick, E.E. "The Effects of Breastfeeding on the Toddler Health. "Pediatric Nursing,
1986.
c. Diabetes Mellitus
Children who developed IDDM in New South Wales, Australia were
matched with healthy children (ratio 1:2) of the same sex and age
for comparison. Those who were exclusively breastfed during their first
three months of life had a 34% lower risk of developing diabetes than those who were not
breastfed. Children given cow's milk-based formula in their first three months were 52%
more likely to develop IDDM than those not given cow's milk formula.
Source: Diabetes Care
1994;17:1381-1389, 1488-1490.
d. Childhood Cancer
Children who are artificially fed or breastfed for only 6 months or less, are at an
increased risk of developing cancer before age 15. The risk of artificially fed children
was 1-8 times that of long-term breastfed children, and the risk for short term feeders
was 1-9 times that of long term breast feeders.
Source: Davis, M.K. Infant Feeding and Childhood
Cancer. "Lancet 1988.
e. Chron's Disease
In this study, lack of breastfeeding was a risk factor associated with later development
of Crohn's disease.
Source: Koletzko, S., "Role of Infant Feeding Practices in Development of
Crohn's Disease in Childhood." Br Med J, 1989.
f. Hodgkin's Disease
A statistically significant protective effect against Hodgkin's disease among children
who are breastfed at least 8 months compared with children who were breastfed no more
than 2 months.
Source: Schwartzbaum, J. "An Exploratory Study of Environmental and Medical
Factors Potentially Related to Childhood Cancer." Medical & Pediatric Oncology,
1991; 19 (2):115-21.
g. Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA)
Preliminary data from researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke University comparing
54 children with JRA and a control group without JRA of similar age and race indicates
that children who were breastfed were only 40% as likely to develop JRA.
Source: "Mother's
Milk: An Ounce of Prevention?" Arthritis Today May-June 1994.
Benefits for
Mothers
1. Delays Fertility
Women who nurse frequently during exclusive breastfeeding remained amenorrhoeic
longer than infrequent nursers, introduced supplements later and did not resume menses as
promptly thereafter. Duration of exclusive nursing and night nursing after supplementation
were the major influences on amenorrhoea.
Source: Elias,M.F. "Nursing Practices and Lactation
Amenorrhoea." Journal of Biosco Sci, 1968.
2. Breast Cancer
Among both premenopausal and postmenopausal women, risk of breast cancer decrease with
increasing duration of lifetime lactation experience although the effect was consistently
stronger for premenopausal women.
Source: McTieman, A., Evidence of Protective Effect of Lactation
on Risk of Breast Cancer in Young Women." American Journal of Epidemiology, 1986.
After controlling for age at first full term pregnancy and other potentially
compounding factors, parity and duration of breast feeding also had a strong influence on
the risk of breast cancer. Compared with parous women who never breast fed, women who had
breast fed for 25 months or more had a lower relative risk.
Source: Layde, P.M., "The
Independent Associations of Parity Age at First full Term Pregnancy, and Duration of
Breast Feeding with the Risk of Breast Cancer." Journal of Clinical Epidemiol, 1989.
If women who do not breastfeed or who breastfed for less than 3 months were to do so
for 4 to 12 months, breast cancer among parous premenopausal women could be reduce by 11%;
if all women with children lactated for 24 months or longer, the incidence might be
reduced by nearly 25%.
Source: Newcomb,P. etal. "Lactation and reduced risk of premenopausal
breast cancer." N Engl J Med 1994; 330(2):81-87.
Women who were breastfed as infants, even if only for a short time, showed an
approximate 25% lower risk of developing premenopausal or postmenopausal breast cancer,
compared to women who were bottle-fed as an infant.
Source: Freudenheim, J. "Exposure to
breast milk in infancy and the risk of breast cancer." Epidemiology 1994 5:324-331.
3. Uterine Cancer
A protective effect against uterine cancer was found for women who breastfeed.
Source: Brock, K.E., "Sexual, Reproductive, and Contraceptive Risk Factors for Carcinoma-in-Situ of
the Uterine Cervix in Sidney. "Medical Journal of Australia, 1989.
4. Ovarian Cancer
Breastfeeding should be added to the list of factors that decrease
ovulatory age and
thereby decrease the risk of ovarian cancer.
Source: Schneider, A.P. "Risk Factor for Ovarian
Cancer. "New England Journal of Medicine, 1987.
5. Endometrial Cancer
Lactation provides a hypoestrogenic effect with less stimulation of the endometrial
lining. This event may offer a protective effect from endometrial cancer.
Source: Petterson B, et
al. "Menstruation span- a time limited risk factor for endometrial carcinoma." Acta Obstet Gyneocol Scand 1986;65:247-55.
6. Emotional Health
At one month postpartum, women who breastfed their infants had scores indicating less
anxiety and more mutuality than the women bottle feeding their infants.
Source: Virden, S.F.,
"The Relationship Between Infant Feeding Method and Maternal Role Adjustment."
Journal of Nurse Midwives, 1988.
7. Decrease Insulin Requirements
Breastfeeding decreased insulin requirements in diabetic women. Reduction in insulin
dose postpartum was significantly greater in those who were breastfeeding than those who
were bottle feeding.
Source: Davies, H.A., "Insulin Requirements of Diabetic Women who Breast
Feed." British Medical Journal, 1989.
8. Decreased Osteoporosis
The odds ratio that a woman with osteoporosis did not breastfeed her baby was
four times
higher than for a control woman.
Source: Blaauw, R. et al. "Risk factors for development of
osteoporosis in a South African population." SAMJ 1994; 84:328-32.
9. Promotes Postpartum Weight Loss
Mothers who breastfed exclusively or partially had significantly larger reductions in
hip circumference and were less above their pre-pregnancy weights at 1 month postpartum
than mothers who fed formula exclusively.
Source: Kramer, F., "Breastfeeding reduces maternal
lower body fat." J Am Diet Assoc 1993;93(4):429-33.
Benefits for
Society
1. Optimum Child Spacing
Though less of a factor in the Western world, sufficient birth spacing helps with the
survival of the older sibling and the new infant. Prolonged lactation helps to promote the
spacing of children.
Source: Thapa, S., "Breastfeeding, birth spacing and their effects on
child survival." Nature 1988;335:679-82.
2. Improved Vaccine Effectiveness
Breastfed infants showed a better serum and secretory responses to peroral and
parenteral vaccines than the formula-fed, whether with a conventional or low protein
content.
Source: Han-Zoric, M., "Antibody responses to parenteral and oral vaccines are
impared by conventional and low protwin formulas as compared to breastfeeding." Acta
Paediatr Scand 1990; 79:1137-42.
3. Financial Savings to Government and Families
a. Food Expense
The cost to supply artificial baby milk (ABM) to one child is between $800 and $1,200
per year depending on the brand and area of the country.
b. Medical Expenses
A pre-publication study by the Wisconsin State Breastfeeding Coalition estimated the following
health care savings in Wisconsin if Breastfeeding rates were at 75% at discharge-50% at six months:
- $4,645,250/yr Acute Otitis Media
- $437,120/yr Bronchitis
- $6,699,600/yr Gastroenteritis
- $262,440/yr Allergies
- $758,934/yr Asthma
- $578,500/yr Type I Diabetes (birth -18yrs)
- $17,070,000/yr Breast Cancer
- $30,984,432/yr TOTAL HEALTH COST SAVINGS
4. More Ecological
There is less use of natural resources (glass, plastic, metal, paper) and also less
waste for landfills.
5. Less Child Abuse
A retrospective review of 800 pregnancies at one family practice revealed an association
between lack of breastfeeding and physical and sexual abuse of the mother and/or her
children. This anecdotal association, has not been previously reported, is worth further
study using more rigorous methods
Source: Acheson, L., "Family Violence and
Breast-feeding" Arch Fam Med July 1995; Vol 4,pp 650-652.
by Jon Ahrendsen, MD,
FAAFP
Clarion, IA USA (515) 532-2836
If you would like
to contact Dr. Ahrendsen, you can mail him at:
jonahr@netins.net
Previous Page ...
|
Breastfeeding
All
About
2
NEXT>>