Providing A Healthful Advantage with Breast-Feeding

by Paulette Avery, RN, MSN, IBCLC

For any of you who don't know, the focus of my work in nursing is with mothers and babies, and I am a lactation consultant. It's been a while since I devoted one of my columns to breast-feeding, but after attending a recent educational meeting with my lactation colleagues, I think it's time for an update on some of breast-feeding's many advantages.

As you've undoubtedly heard, childhood obesity is at an all-time. And according to Andrea Windom, a pediatric nurse practitioner and lactation consultant, childhood obesity has become "the most prevalent nutritional disease among children in the developed world." The good news is that breast-feeding can decrease the likelihood that a child will become obese.

As Windom pointed out in her presentation, there are many factors contributing to the increase in obesity in recent years. One factor is that people are eating more than ever before in restaurants, where serving sizes have become huge. We have also come to expect enormous servings and consequently feel cheated if we do not get them. We consume more sweetened beverages, snack more often, spend more time in front of the television or computer, and get less exercise.

The statistics portray a grim future for overweight or obese children and adolescents. According to Windom's presentation, "40 to 70 percent of overweight children remain overweight as adults," and "75 percent of overweight adolescents will be overweight adults." Aside from the significant psychosocial difficulties associated with being overweight, obesity results in much higher rates of illness and death.

Clearly, breast-feeding alone will not solve the problem, but it can give a child a better chance for remaining at a healthy weight throughout life. Although the reasons for this are not yet clear, eight of eleven well-designed studies found that breast-feeding decreased the risk of obesity by 21 to 34 percent.

A breast-fed child has another nutritional advantage over children who are fed formula. Studies have found that breast-feeding makes a child more likely to enjoy a wide variety of foods, in other words, to be less "picky" about eating. I consider that an advantage for the cook in the family as well.

According to an article by H.W. Hilton, a neonatologist in Sydney, Australia, breast-fed babies consume more solid foods after weaning from the breast than formula-fed babies. And in a random group of five-year-olds who were offered a "novel" vegetable, breast-fed children were more likely to try it than were their formula-fed counterparts. It is believed this difference is probably due to the fact that breast-fed infants are exposed to the flavors of the foods their mothers eat through the breast milk.

These differences apparently persist into adulthood. In another study, a large number of university students were asked about their eating preferences. Those who had been breast-fed were more likely to say they enjoyed eating and liked to explore the tastes of new foods.

I'll close with one more major advantage of breast-feeding, namely the protection it affords against infectious disease. Mothers frequently ask me whether they should continue to breast-feed when they get a cold or the flu. The answer is yes! When the mother becomes ill, her body immediately begins making antibodies to fight off the virus or bacteria that is making her sick. These antibodies are passed to the baby in the mother's milk, providing almost instant protection to the baby.

The more studies that are done, the more reasons researchers find to recommend breast-feeding. I hope the advantages I've included here will help someone make the decision to give her child the best possible start to life.

Paulette Avery is a registered nurse and a freelance writer who specializes in health issues.