The benefits of breastfeeding for mothers, one of the best kept secrets
(Breastfeeding Advantages for mothers, the big secret)
Information pertaining to the magazine NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol 14 Number 1 Year 2002
By Alicia Dermer, MD, IBCLC.
Very few people know the benefits of breastfeeding for infants, but the many benefits for mothers are often ignored or even unknown. Since the effect of oxytocin on the uterus to gain emotional warmth, breastfeeding gives the mother a lot of reasons to be comfortable with his decision. The documented effects are outlined in this summary of Breastfeeding Annual International 2001, recently published anthology, and which was edited by Dia Michels, co-author of the classic breastfeeding advocacy, Milk, Money and Madness.
One of the best kept secrets about breastfeeding is that it is so healthy for mothers to babies. Not only allows the continuation of breastfeeding is a process that began with conception and pregnancy, but it provides many health benefits, both short and long term. These aspects are rarely emphasized in prenatal care and all but ignored in popular parenting literature. Let's look at the benefits that breastfeeding provides mothers and speculate why so few see the benefits. Physiological effects
breastfeeding immediately after birth, the baby's repeated suckling releases oxytocin from the pituitary gland of the mother. This hormone not only signals the breasts to the milk to flow to the baby (which is known as "reflex" or down), but simultaneously produces contractions of the uterus. These contractions prevent postpartum hemorrhage and help uterine involution (the return to their nonpregnant state).
As the mother breast-feed exclusively without substituting formula or additional food or pacifiers, it delays the return of their menstrual periods (Lawrence and Lawrence 1999). Unlike bottle-feeding mothers whose periods back within 6-8 weeks after birth, mothers who breastfeed their babies may remain amenorrheic for several months. This condition has the great benefit of keeping the iron in the mother's body and often provides natural spacing of pregnancies.
The amount of iron that the body of the mother takes in milk production in much less than that lost through menstrual bleeding. The net effect is a lower risk of anemia due to iron deficiency in the nursing mother, compared with that you feed your baby with artificial milk. The longer the mother breastfeeds, the stronger this effect (Institute of Medicine, 1991).
As in regard to fertility, the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a well documented method of birth control, which provides 98-99% protection against pregnancy in the first six months of baby's life. The time period between pregnancies naturally provides LAM ensures the optimal survival of each baby and the mother's physical recovery from pregnancy. By contrast, bottle-feeding mother needs to start with a different method to six weeks after childbirth (Kennedy, 1989).
Long-term benefits is becoming increasingly clear that breastfeeding provides mothers with many more benefits than those for a short period after delivery.
Numerous studies have shown other benefits for your health to enjoy breastfeeding mothers. For example, optimal metabolic profiles, reduced risk of various cancers and psychological benefits.
Milk production is an active metabolic process that requires the use of 200 to 500 calories a day, on average. To burn this many calories, a mother feeds her baby formula should swim 30 laps in a pool or ride a bike uphill for an hour every day. Clearly, breastfeeding mothers have an advantage in losing weight gained during pregnancy. Several studies show that breastfeeding mothers not to lose less weight and keep it off as well as those breastfeeding mothers (Brewer 1989).
This is especially important for mothers who have had diabetes during pregnancy. After birth, mothers with a history of gestational diabetes who breastfeed have a lower level of blood sugar than non-mothers (Kjos 1993). For those women who are at high risk of developing diabetes, the optimal weight loss during lactation, can make that lower risk of diabetes moves to its next life.
Women with type I diabetes before their pregnancy, they tend to need less insulin while breastfeeding, due to reduction in levels of blood sugar. Moreover, mothers who breastfeed tend to have high HDL cholesterol (Oyer, 1989). The optimal weight loss, better control of blood sugar as well as the good cholesterol profile due to breastfeeding, which will result ultimately in a lower risk of heart problems. This aspect is particularly important in populations where heart attacks are the leading cause of death among women.
Another important element used to produce breast milk is calcium. Because women lose calcium while breastfeeding, some health professionals have believed erroneously that this means an increased risk of osteoporosis for women. However, many studies show that after weaning, the bone density of the mothers who nursed back to its pre-pregnancy levels, and sometimes at higher levels (Sowers, 1995). In the long term, breastfeeding results in stronger bones and reduced risk of osteoporosis. In fact, recent studies have confirmed that women who are not breastfed are at increased risk of hip fracture after menopause (Cummings, 1993).
In numerous studies with non-lactating mothers, it is known they have higher risks of cancers of the ovary and uterus may be due to repeated ovulatory cycles and subsequent exposure to higher levels of estrogen due to the absence of breastfeeding. It is estimated that mothers who breastfeed for 6 to 24 months during their reproductive years may reduce breast cancer risk between 11 and 25% (Lyde, 1989, Newcomb 1994). This phenomenon can be explained due to the suppression of ovulation
and low estrogen, as well as local effects associated with normal physiological function of the breast. This theory was suggested by a study of mothers who breastfed traditionally only one breast and had average significantly higher rates of cancer in the breast that nursed (Eng, Ho and Petrakis, 2977). In conclusion
. Breastfeeding reduces risk factors for three of the most serious diseases of women: female cancers, heart disease and osteoporosis, without any significant risk to their health. Psychological Issues
breastfeeding mothers
How do you measure peace of mind that having a baby that is developing optimally? How do you manage the budget of the milk jar and the incessant, high medical costs?
health agencies advocate for breastfeeding because of its well documented benefits that breast milk has on babies, but they fail to mothers and families about the potential emotional impact of this crucial decision about feeding their babies. In Western society, the decision between the breast and the bottle is still seen as a personal decision based on convenience. The potential stress of living with a child who is frequently ill, or the loss of that unique bond that breastfeeding are often omitted from the decision process.
Breastfeeding is much more than provide the optimal nutrition and baby protection against many diseases. Breastfeeding provides a unique interaction between mother and child, an automatic proximity with SSC that allow you a special parenting style, the bottle-feeding mothers should strive to replicate. The baby's suckling at the breast produces a hormonal condition in particular the mother. Prolactin, the hormone responsible for milk production, appears to produce a special calmness in mothers. It has been found that mothers who breastfeed are less intense response to adrenaline (Altemus, 1995).
This calming effect is difficult to measure in some societies that support breastfeeding, and where breastfeeding beyond the first few weeks is not the norm. The mothers trying to breastfeed in this climate often experience physical and emotional problems. They are the result of the lack of models in the family or friends, and are compounded by the widespread availability of milk in jar and lack of access to health professionals who know and support breastfeeding.
Even if the mother can overcome the physical problems she may encounter negative comments like, "Are you still nursing?" Or "Maybe your milk is not enough, why do not you add a bottle?" Or your boss may make it impossible to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. Or she may be harassed for breastfeeding in public. It matters little that the mother will experience the relaxing effects breastfeeding. A new baby means emotionally charged moments. The "gray hour" (time when the baby is restless at the end of the day) occurs frequently and often the mother is exacerbated by the lack of support and sense of isolation. The impact of breastfeeding on postpartum emotional effort has not been well studied, but breastfeeding mothers with depression need as much medicine as the others. These women present a unique challenge for health personnel. Since medications may pass through breast milk, many physicians believe that the surest way is to wean the baby. However, in many cases, depression is easier to handle when they continue to breastfeed. Unfortunately, too often doctors insist that mothers wean their child to take antidepressants.
The literature review has shown that many antidepressants pose a minimal risk, if any, to the nursing child. A mother who feels her breastfeeding relationship with your child is all that is doing well in your life, you continue to breastfeed while receiving appropriate medications for their depression. The benefits in the short and long-term breastfeeding mothers are many and valuable.
, breastfeeding is that gift, both physical and emotional health. And something that is very difficult to measure, and is another benefit, happiness and tranquility that seems to surround the couple who are breastfeeding. Well worth seeking help to solve the problem that may occur during early lactation and prolong these moments of present and future happiness.
Why more people do not know about the benefits of breastfeeding?
Clearly, breastfeeding is good for mothers, both physically and emotionally. Indeed, many mothers choose to breastfeed only for the benefit it means for their babies. The truth is that in the context of society bottle-feeding their babies, breastfeeding is seen as inconvenient and uncomfortable.
Often, mothers are breastfeeding as a period martyrdom is justified by the health of their babies. If weaned suddenly feel guilty for not giving the baby to continue those benefits, but that feeling of guilt is diluted due to well-meaning people telling them that the baby may get milk from the same jar. Maybe if they know that continued breastfeeding is good for their health, many mothers are not discouraged by the difficulties
Many women do not know how good breastfeeding is for their own health. Either through ignorance or because of the influence of artificial baby milk industry, many health professionals do not report these benefits mothers. It is time that this information is known. To the extent that facts about these little benefit mothers, they simply choose not to breastfeed briefly to give the baby that immunity so important, but may decide to continue to breastfeed, the benefits to their babies and themselves.
* Alicia Dermer's doctor and lactation consultant, an associate professor in the department of Family Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in the United States. Actively participates in conferences and nursing education programs, has numerous publications on the subject. Suitable for New Start by Maria Cristina Saenz, in Bogotá, Colombia.
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