“F” is for Fewer Illnesses for Both the Breastfeeding Baby and Mother

Breastfeeding lowers an infant’s risk of asthma, diabetes, diarrhea, ear infections, leukemia, obesity, respiratory tract infections, skin rashes, sudden infant death syndrome and more. That’s a veritable laundry list of the advantages of breastfeeding, and those are just the advantages for the baby. Breastfeeding has a tremendous positive impact on a mother’s health as well. A report entitled “Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries” just got released by the U.S. government (the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to be exact). The report reviewed 86 primary studies and 29 systematic reviews of another 400 studies. That meta-analysis resulted in a report that is chock-full of fascinating statistics. The following blurbs were provided by Dr. David Meyers from the AHRQ.

Advantages of Breastfeeding for the Baby:

There is good evidence that breastfeeding reduced infants’ risk of ear infections by up to 50 percent, serious lower respiratory tract infections by 72 percent, and a skin rash similar to eczema by 42 percent. Children with a family history of asthma who had been breastfed were 40 percent less likely to have asthma, and children who were not prone to asthma had a percent reduced risk compared to those children who were not breastfed. The risk of developing type 1 diabetes was reduced by about 20 percent. These benefits were seen in infants who were breastfed for three or more months. Breastfeeding also reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 39 percent compared to those who were not breastfed.

The report also found that breastfeeding was associated with fewer episodes of diarrhea during infancy, decreased incidence of childhood leukemia, and decreased deaths from sudden infant death syndrome. The report found no clear relationship between breastfeeding and improvement in IQ. In premature infants, breastfeeding decreased the occurrence of necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious gastrointestinal infection that often results in death.

Advantages of Breastfeeding for the Mother:

For health outcomes in mothers, there is good evidence that women who breastfed their infants had up to a 12 percent reduced risk of type 2 diabetes for each year they breastfed. Breastfeeding decreased the risk of ovarian cancer by up to 21 percent. Breastfeeding also decreased the risk of breast cancer by up to 28 percent in those whose lifetime duration of breastfeeding was 12 months or longer. Women who did not breastfeed their infants were more likely to have postpartum depression, but unmeasured factors such as depression that was undiagnosed prior to giving birth may have increased the rate of depression seen in this group. Breastfeeding did not increase the risk of fractures due to osteoporosis. The effect of breastfeeding on a woman’s weight could not be determined based on the available studies.

I didn’t need any additional reasons to breastfeed but I sure am happy to read all the findings of this report!