Breastfed Babies Less Overweight
September 26th, 2006
Yet another reason nursing should be encouraged*:
Weight Benefit Seen Even if Mothers Are Obese or Have Diabetes
Sept. 26, 2006 — Breastfed babies are less likely to grow into overweight children than those fed formula, even if their mothers are obese or have diabetes, research confirms.
Exclusively breastfed babies had roughly a 34% reduced risk of being overweight during childhood, compared to children exclusively formula-fed, according to a new analysis of data from a study involving more than 15,000 children
*No, this does not mean I think the government should ever dictate or badger women into nursing! But FTLOG, a little support would be nice.
Posted by Allison in parenting, health & wellness, culture |
September 27th, 2006 at 7:00 am
It’s funny, a few people in my extended family don’t understand why I would breastfeed at all - let alone for years as opposed to months or weeks. So barbaric and embarrassing! :)
Since my current nursling is huge, one such family member asked if perhaps the breast milk was going to give him “a weight problem!” I laughed at her. Out loud. And changed the subject. This is the same woman who thought perhaps my first child would starve to death on my breastmilk & needed cereal in a bottle at a month old!! FLOG, indeed!
September 27th, 2006 at 9:24 am
I’m fairly skeptical about these results. Here’s an article about prior studies that found that breastfeeding decreased childhood obesity, and follow-up studies that contradicted those findings. Since childhood obesity is caused primarily by poor diet and lack of exercise, I don’t see how there could be a link to breastfeeding. The article you linked to doesn’t discuss the methodology of the study, but in any random selection of mothers and children, I would guess there would be a correlation between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. But it would be because childhood obesity is more common among children from low-income households, and I’m guessing that breastfeeding is also less common in these households because the mothers typically have to work at jobs that do not provide maternity leave or in-house daycare. If the study didn’t correct for this effect, then the results don’t really prove anything.
September 27th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
One major way that breastfeeding helps prevent obesity is physiological and not at all related to social factors.
Breastfeeding allows the infant to self regulate food intake based on hunger rather than being given a standard amount of formula (or even expressed breast milk). By about 3 months old, infants are able nurse in two different ways - they can nurse to eat as well as for comfort (non-nutritive nursing, as another infant might use a pacifier or a thumb). This reinforces a child’s instinctive desire to eat to hunger rather than out of habit, boredom, etc (i.e. the way adults eat;). I have read abstracts from several studies on this - many are available on the La Leche League website.
Of course, the way parents teach their children about eating once solid foods begin could either strengthen or completely undo what they learned by breastfeeding…but it is an actual, physical step in the right direction - not just a social indicator.
(Sorry for the hijack, Allison!)
Kate
September 27th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Kate-
Thanks for the info. I probably should have been more clear that I was skeptical not of breastfeeding having any effect on child obesity but of breastfeeding having more than a very small effect. This article, for example, finds that 8 of 11 studies measured a decrease in childhood obesity for breastfed babies. It also lists some possible mechanisms, but says that it believes breastfeeding is a small factor compared to others in determining childhood obesity. To wit:
Possible mechanisms include learned self-regulation of energy intake, metabolic programming in early life, and residual confounding by parental attributes. If the association is causal, the effect of breastfeeding is probably small compared to other factors that influence child obesity, such as parental overweight. Nonetheless, it may be of public health significance considering the current epidemic of child overweight.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Kate, you pretty much took the words out of my mouth.
When I nursed Maya, there was no question about how much she would eat — she’d nurse until she was done, then quit. Unlike some of my formula-feeding friends, I didn’t concern myself with how many ounces she took in per day, and I didn’t push her to eat the “right” amount (the baby version of ‘clean your plate!’).
This same awareness has bled over into my parenting, in that I try (don’t always succeed, but normally do) to provide Maya with healthful options, then stay out of the way. If she’s hungry, she’ll eat. If she’s not, I’m not going to give her food anxieties and hang-ups by making her eat. If she wants seconds (or thirds, or fourths) of something that’s normal food (as opposed to dessert), fine…she can have them, and I won’t comment.
To me, this is much more about the psychology of a person’s relationship with food than about study results and physiology. It’s about learning to trust one’s own judgment where intake is concerned.
Good conversation, guys!