Breastfeeding and obesity

I am really annoyed by the recently published findings about breastfeeding and obesity.  One of the main reasons I decided to breastfeed LONG before Alex was even born was because I wanted to do every. single. thing. I could to prevent him from becoming an obese adult, like both Dave and I are/were.  If there is such a thing as an obesity gene (and I truly believe there is), my kids have it.  In the battle of nature vs. nurture, I'm doing everything I can to keep nurture on their side.

The report says:

Women who were breastfed for at least a week were about as likely to be overweight or obese as women who were bottle-fed.

The first time I read it, I stopped right there, outraged.  One week?  You have to be kidding me!

The report then added,

Women who had been breastfed for more than nine months were about as likely to be overweight or obese as women who'd been breastfed for less than a week.

Which is more like it thankyouverymuch.

But still, I'm dismayed and doubtful of the findings, particularly given the way the study was conducted.

In 1989, the women were asked their height and weight and what those measurements were when they were children and at age 18. Then every two years, through 2001, they were asked to update their weight information. The surveyed women were all between 25 and 42 at the time of the 1989 questionnaires, Michels said.

In 2001, the mothers of these women were sent a questionnaire asking if their daughters had been breastfed and for how long.

When possible, researchers checked medical records to confirm what the mothers and daughters recalled but breastfeeding is not routinely documented. Still, the researchers believe the women's recollections of breastfeeding are reliable.

So basically, if the women were between 25 and 42 in 1989 when the study began, then their mothers, who were polled in 2001, were asked to remember what they did 37 to 54 years earlier?  We're talking about children born between 1947 and 1964.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I can hardly remember what I did last MONTH and my memory only serves to get worse, not better.  When I read my old blog posts from when Alex was a baby, I have no recollection of ever writing them.  If it wasn't all documented, I'd barely remember his birthday and he's only three and a half.

So I'm a skeptic.  I'm also a little sad because I'd rather see the scientific community focus on encouraging women to breastfeed longer, not supplying more (questionable) evidence that it might not be so beneficial after all.

Comments

[Emily]

This really is your little drum to beat, isn't it? You were happy to share when the scientific evidence agreed with your personal opinions--now you want to discount it because it doesn't? Those women remember how long they breastfed their children, and more studies will be done.

You like breastfeeding. You have the time to breastfeed because you don't need to work outside your home. You're very proud of yourself--that's wonderful. We're all so glad that you feel confident in your choices (many of which are merely opportunities made available to you because of your socioeconomic status, not things that the rest of us are really at liberty to decide for or against). But could you please, PLEASE stop trying to force your opinions on everyone else.

Women do not need the state or the medical establishment to "encourage" them to breastfeed by only highlighting its positive effects and allowing myths (for example, that breastfeeding will combat adult obesity)to continue.

Leave this discussion between a mother and her pediatrician. It is the pediatrician's job to stay abreast of current discoveries in medicine about the benefits of breastfeeding, not yours. You've made your choice, now let other people make theirs in peace.

[Robbi]

Oh my God, will you give up the breast-feeding topic PLEASE.

[Amber]

They don't get it at all, do they? I guess they need a little refresher on what Mandajuice IS. Oh jeez. This negativity again and it's about YOU, not the choices THEY make.

[HeatherK]

Were you or Dave breastfed? My sister and I weren't, but I was talking to my grandmother and she did bf 3 of her 6 and two of those have obesity issues. Not sure how anecdotal evidence would stack up against a more formal study, but not like there's money in that, yk?

[zookeeper]

From personal experience- I have breastfed 2 babies, and bottle fed 3. None are obese, and the oldest is almost 15.

My mother-in-law breastfed 3 babies, and bottle fed 2. Only one of the breastfed babies is obese now as an adult (and actually was during her whole childhood).

My mother bottle fed all 3 of her children. None are obese.

So, maybe there's some credit to the scientific findings. I'm just pointing out that it correlates with my own personally known experience. But I do agree that if you love it when scientific findings agrees with you, you can't discount the scientific findings that discount ONE point or value in breastfeeding.

Personally, I think genetics has a lot to do with obesity, and the other factor is lifestyle and eating choices. I don't think it matters one hoot if you were a bottle or breast baby, especially if you're battling a "fat gene". That's like saying being breastfed could alter how your hair color gene affects your hair color.

[Arwen]

Amanda, how dare you post your *feelings* on topics pertinent to *you* and *your family*. The nerve.

I clicked through and read the article, and I've got a couple of thoughts. First of all, this is just one study - it's not the be all, end all answer to the question of breastfeeding and adult obesity. Don't let one study depress you too much. :) Second, as far as I can read, the study doesn't discount (or even try to discount) the proved link between formula-feeding and childhood obesity. And, as the pediatrician at the end of the article said, obese children have to work harder not to become obese adults; therefore, breastfeeding still gives your kids an advantage in that department.

I'm incredibly frustrated by Emily's comment above, especially this part: "Leave this discussion between a mother and her pediatrician. It is the pediatrician's job to stay abreast of current discoveries in medicine about the benefits of breastfeeding, not yours."

Working backwards:
1. It actually IS Amanda's job to stay abreast of the current discoveries about the benefits of breastfeeding, because they are directly relevant to her job as a mother. If the fact that she writes about them on her blog annoys you, why are you still reading?

2. Speaking of opportunities made available to someone by her socioeconomic status, "leave it between a mother and her pediatrician" just reeks with assumed privilege. Sure, leaving it between a mother and her pediatrician would be fine... if all mothers had pediatricians, and if all pediatricians were well-educated and had the best interests of their patients in mind. Leaving aside the second factor (which is not an inconsiderable one; there are some very bad pediatricians out there), the fact is that being able to take your baby to a pediatrician who has time to talk to you about the benefits of breastfeeding is a privilege that a lot of people don't have. When I was a baby my parents were very poor and didn't have health insurance, so my mom took me to a clinic for low-income families to get check-ups and immunizations, and although the shots were administered just fine, the medical care was otherwise pretty sketchy. For instance, they told my mom (who was nursing me on demand) to stop feeding me so much because I "would be fat all my life" (I was a very big baby - off the charts for weight and height). Fortunately, she ignored them and kept giving me the nourishment I needed, and I was a very skinny kid and am a normal-weight adult. But the point is that if you say we as mothers shouldn't talk about breastfeeding in public forums because it should be between a mother and her doctor, you're relegating an entire income-class of women to having very little good information at all about breastfeeding, because the health care they can obtain is just not up to the standard of yours or mine.

Low-income women are significantly less likely to breastfeed than higher-income ones. And yes, this is partly because women of higher socioeconomic status are often in situations which make breastfeeding easier. But part of it is simply because many low-income women do not understand the benefits of breastfeeding, for themselves or for their children. Since studies show that education in small, informal groups and support from other mothers are most effective at helping women breastfeed, shouldn't we as mothers be talking about the benefits of breastfeeding - and ways to succeed at it - as much as possible so that those among us who don't have access to top-notch, one-on-one medical care can get the information and support they need? To insist that we remain silent on the topic - when speaking up about it could do so much good for women who need it most - speaks, to me, of something other than altruism.

/rant

Love you, A!

[Amanda]

Emily - I really don't even know where to start with your comment. This IS my blog. A blog I lovingly named after my BREASTMILK. No where in that post did I say anyone ELSE should believe what I do, I was just sharing my reaction to that article. You know, because it's MY blog about ME.

I am totally offended, however, by your assumption that breast-feeding is only for those of a certain socioeconomic status. I call bullshit!! I'm a numbers person and no matter how you crunch it, breast-feeding is ALWAYS cheaper than formula. If anything, you should direct your angst at the formula manufacturers who give free samples to impoverished mothers who become reliant upon an expensive product they might not need. (Also? EVERYTHING THAT ARWEN JUST SAID!)

Robbi - no.

Amber - XO.

HeatherK - I was breastfed for over a year and yet got to 300 pounds by the age of 23. It's the anecdotal nature of the study that irks me.

zookeeper - Again, it's the anectodal stuff that gets us. I want to see a study of babies followed from birth.

And I actually think it's okay to discount studies with negative outcomes. For example, if Harvard published tomorrow stating that Marijuana really didn't kill brain cells or make you crave cheetos, I still wouldn't smoke it. Likewise, I'll keep breastfeeding because I still think it's what's best for MY babies.

[Salome Ellen]

I happen to be one of the few people of my generation (I'm 56) who is part of an unbroken heritage of breastfeeding - Grandma nursed Mom, Mom nursed me, I nursed my children, and now my daughters are nursing my grandbabies. It's pretty clear that breastfeeding is part of the design (or evolution, depending on your view) of humans. While good formula can save lives in dire situations (my brother was bottle fed because our mom darn near died of a postpartum hemorrhage), it's kind of the baby equivalent of fast food -- quick, seems cheap, no skills involved. Fast food doesn't necessarily make you fat; it just ups your odds. Home cooking doesn't make you skinny; it just gives you more chances to eat wisely. My kids all ate fast food, but not before they were a year old!

[Jess]

I can't believe anyone would have the audacity to tell you NOT to write about any given topic in YOUR blog. I think that you truly just wish that breastfeeding worked for every woman. I bottle fed my first after three months of struggling with nursing, and my now ten month old has been on the boob since birth and still going strong. I love it! I wish I could go back in time and tell the mother I was with my first to just relax and it will come. While I believe it is an individual choice and no one should be made to feel badly for not breastfeeding, I do firmly believe that it is the way to go...for me anyway. And I agree, show me a study following babies from birth and I would give full consideration to any data regarding breastfed/bottlefed and what's best as far as obesity goes.

[Jennifer]

Hi Manda:

Found your blog through Arwen--I just wanted to chime in with how ridiculous it is to have anyone for any reason suggest that you shouldn't write about your opinions, biases, and preferences on your own blog. It is seriously warped (and slightly facist) notion.

About the obesity issue--the evidence is not very compelling either way. One extremely confounding issue is that a significant proportion of the obese female population is obese due to hormonal imbalances (or the obesity causes the hormonal imbalance, yadda yadda chicken/egg) and these women are slightly less likely to breastfeed than slimmer mammas because their hormonal imbalance messes with milk production. There is also the socioeconmic association of obesity and lower incomes but it seems that many of the studies at least try to control for that.

Preventing obesitiy is a multifactorial effort on the part of the parents and is probably the LEAST compelling reason to breastfeed if not the least convincingly demonstrated.

The cognitive development of the infant is the MOST compelling and the most powerfully demonstrated certainly through chemistry (the particular amino acids and fatty acids found in human milk) and somewhat more arguably social experiments (it seems that breastfed infants have higher IQs but again there are confounding factors there).

It just seems to be more nutritionally sound than formula--though certainly formula produces healthy, intelligent and even slender and attractive adults so we are talking about better and best rather than poison and food.

Anyhoo that is MY opinion which I speak even on others' blogs without fear of forcing my opinons. Freedom of expression is this nifty little thing the internet amplifies to the 10th power (thank God.)

Nice to meet you.

[Christina]

I think it's awesome you blog to encourge breastfeeding. It's the most beautiful, natural, healthy, bonding thing. I wonder where the $$$ for that study came from... I agree, the methodology seems rather suspect to me.

[Heidi T]

Hi Amanda! I found you through Arwen also! I applaud your blog. As for the commenter that said that breastfeeding is only for SAHMs or people with a higher socio economic status, well ha! I have breastfed both of my children. Not a drop of formula passed through their mouths and I work outside the home. I pumped 3-4 a day to provide my children milk. And even with a good pump (a PIS) it was still cheaper than formula. Both of my children were breastfed for over a year (22 months for my daughter and 16 for my son). I made the decision to breastfeed my children for a variety of reasons:
1. Cost
2. The lower risk of obesity (from my side)
3. The lower risk of allergies and asthma (my husband's addition to the gene pool)
4. Pure laziness. I sure wasn't going to get up in the middle of the night and make bottles. That is just insane.
5. Convenience. When we went out, I brought a diaper and wipes and didn't need anything else.

While I understand that there may be reasons that a woman cannot breastfeed, I will never understand why a woman must demean other people's decision to breastfeed.

I have no regrets that I breastfed my children. I don't know many bottle feeding moms that can say that.

[Robbi]

I have read your blog for a while and tried to understand your views. The truth is that your blog (and most of it's followers) are extremely one-sided and tend to look down on anyone who didn't breastfeed no matter what their reason was. I've come to realize that the whole purpose of this blog is to harp on these people and to praise yourself for being SUCH a good mother for breastfeeding. You do realize that there are much bigger and more important things in life than food, do you not? I actually don't think you do, from reading where all your money is spent that you track on your other blog.
Anyway my point is that the attitude that you portray on this blog isn't very welcoming to people that don't think *exactly* like you, and therefore I won't be reading any of your blogs any longer. Looks like you only have five readers now instead of six.

[Amy H]

I get that I am late to the party on this one (was busy last week!) but I have just a few things to say on the topic.
First off, it's Amanda's blog so she can say what she wants. If you don't like it, stop reading it. I wonder about people who read other's blogs and then come down on them so hard. Why are you here everyday if you feel so strongly that her opinions are bologna?
Second, I did a research study about the distribution of condoms in high schools when I was in college. While doing the study I came upon a startling number. 900 million. That is the number of dollars spent by the US government to give women and families on welfare baby formula. They are spending that much money providing families with something that is actually FREE if the mother nurses. Encouraging women--especially low income, under-educated women--to breastfeed is in all of our best interest. Part of that 900 million dollars? mine. yours. grrr. Makes me mad that we could spend a fraction of that price on education and then end up with healthier children but we just don't.
Finally, you can probaby find stats and studies to support just about anything you want to support. For every study that says breastfeeding is best you will find one that says formula feeding is just as good as breastfeeding. You will never, however, see a study that says formula feeding is best. "It comes close" is not the same as "it is best." So as for me and my 9 month old, we will continue breastfeeding. I am a competitive person and I always like to be best. :-)

[lolly]

Hmm, I thought I commented earlier, but it's not here, and now it will just be a repeat of what others have said.

I'm pretty new to your blog, but I have to say I'm surprised by some of the comments! Asking her to please stop talking about something? My goodness. It's her blog! If you don't like what she's talking about, or the WAY she talks about something, wouldn't it be more reasonable (not to mention polite!) to just not read it? Rather than make her feel bad for posting her thoughts and feelings on a subject that is obviously dear to her heart?

Also, it is a wise person who will delve into the actual research and look at the methods and controls used in each study. It's true, you can find a study claiming just about anything, but not all experiments out there rely heavily on the scientific method. And many will have major biases, which are fairly easy to determine when you look at who is funding them.

So good for Amanda for not taking every headline at face value and actually looking into what the study shows.

[Kim]

Found you through Arwen...

That is an interesting study, indeed. I was breastfed for only 3 weeks, and I am obese. However, my SIL breastfed my nephew exclusively for six months (he now only nurses at night, he's eight months old), and he's a little chub, whereas my niece is 5, was only breastfed exclusively for seven weeks, and is petite. So...you know. I think that there are so many other benefits to breastfeeding that it is important to keep doing it, and then teaching your kids to make wise food choices!

[KUchick]

People just over-react when they feel like they're being judged. Obviously Amanda feels strongly about this, but it's her blog, so she can say the sky is red if she wants. I used to get all kvetchy about people being so self-focused on their blogs, until I realized...DUH! That's what a blog is! I am guessing that Amanda doesn't go on this way in normal conversation with other mothers, since she probably knows that these things can hurt people's feelings. But blogs are outlets where you can say everything you can't say in public!

[Alicia]

Found you through Arwen, and just wanted to echo what KUchick just said above, "People just over-react when they feel like they're being judged."

The whole mommy war phenomenon is about exactly that. Both sides of any topic trying to get some sort of smug superiority that the choices they've made are somehow better than what other mothers who took a different path. Prime example, the comment from Heidi T above, I agreed wholeheartedly with what she wrote until this, "I have no regrets that I breastfed my children. I don't know many bottle feeding moms that can say that."

That's exactly the sort of rhetoric that gets other women's backs up. Because as much as she doesn't want to be judged for breastfeeding, there's that middle finger waving at the bottle feeding moms tucked in at the end. And that's what makes the "debate" go on and on and on . . .

Is breastfeeding "best"? Sure. Not much doubt about that on the medical front. Will bottle fed babies also go on to graduate high school, enjoy the careers of their choosing, and have wonderful lives? Of course. Let each mother decide for herself what's best for her baby, and keep the mean girls one-upmanship back in junior high.

[Rach]

People definitely over-react when they feel they are being judged. Just recently there was a whole broo-haha on my blog about a mom who nursed for 8 years (yes, I still think that's very odd), and people on both sides of the debate got up in arms.

I think that study was probably pretty worthless - many studies are, and you can twist them however you want to see them. If you look back at generations, you can oftentimes see a genetic link with obesity, along with lack of exercise and love of food (for whatever reason).

You, like Arwen, are passionate about letting others know that breastmilk is best. It's your blog! You get to say what you want! I think it's tricky, though, when other moms are already beating themselves up for not using breastmilk and read it all over the place about how they should be. It's tough.

I am going through something similar - feeling bad that I had a c-section instead of natural birth, but it was right for me at the time. There is no "right" or "wrong" about it. But I still get up in arms when someone tells me natural birth is best, even if I may know it, deep down, because it wasn't the choice I made.

Mothering issues are, by nature, perhaps some of the most hotly contested issues, ever, on the planet.

[Catherine]

Here from Arwen's blog also. I second the others' dismissal of those who criticize you for writing about breastfeeding on your own blog. I also question the legitimacy of that study. For instance, did they try to see if there were any other factors that might have affected the outcome? I once read that working mothers tend to regain their pre-pregnancy weight faster than SAHMs. Working mothers also tend to be bottlefeeders. If the working mother is thin, then she will have a strong influence on making her bottlefeeding child thinner. It's not because she's *not breastfeeding* that the child is thin, but because of the mother's own example and self-discipline. Or something like that. Who knows? But breast is still best!

[Rhonda]

Found you through Arwen. I breastfed my son until the age of 2! I never intended to go that long, but we both still enjoyed it so I didn't want to stop. Aside from the physical benefits of breastfeeding, I found it to be the most relaxing part of my day, especially once I went back to work. It was our special time to reconnect, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Kudos to you for letting your opinion be known. If we agree, we can read your blog. If not, bye-bye!

[Kate]

Unfortunately, it's women like HeidiT that get everyone's hackles up. She made a lot of good points in her comment, but her dig at the end just killed me.

HeidiT, I don't regret not breastfeeding my son. Not for one second.

[Rachel K.]

Boy howdy! This debate never ends does it??? I think everyone just needs to let it go and remember that 1) It's a personal choice and 2) this is Amanda's blog and she can therefore write about whatever the heck she wants!!!

Now though, I will go on to add that after just recieving a 98% on a research analysis paper on the very subject of obesity in children and specifically infant weight gain's connection to obesity in children I think this is what needs to be pointed out.

Amanda is correct in pointing out that this research study has flaws. It's missing important data, their are operational definition problems (parental surveys for one). But don't think for a second that this means the findings are invalid.

I mean think about it. Does anyone honestly believe that breastfeeding ALONE can prevent obesity???

What irks me about the whole breastfeeding debate is this... okay, so yeah we all KNOW that breastfeeding is a good thing. But those moms who don't breastfeed (my friend included... she has a health problem and could not breastfeed) have often had to endure ridicule and hearing how unhealthy their children will be because of their choice. Well ya know... my best friend's children now almost 3 and 8 months have always been incredibly healthy. They have no allergies, they are beyond standards developmentally and are just wonderful kids. The little boy I nanny for on the other hand is 15 months old, was breastfed from day one, has had 10 ear infections, strep, numberous colds and runs the gamet on sensory development issues.
Go figure

The point is, bad things can still happen EVEN IF you breastfeed. It's not the cure all of everything despite people acting like it is.
And yet my friend is the one made to feel bad about her decisions which weren't even hers to make.

Obesity is exactly one of those things that you just don't know with. Breastfeeding may be helpful in the beginning, it may be a start, but if you really want to raise a healthy kid, focus on the exercise, the nutrition and the healthy lifestyle. As much as I'm sure many would like, they don't stay attached to the breast forever and any prevention it might offer will only go so far.

[Julie]

Leave this discussion between a mother and her pediatrician. It is the pediatrician's job to stay abreast of current discoveries in medicine about the benefits of breastfeeding, not yours.

I just had to add: this comment made me laugh out loud. You would think they should (just like I assumed my OBs would have a clue about PPD, which they most certainly did not), but doctors in general know so little about breastfeeding. I love my doctor to pieces and trust him with my life and the lives of my children -- but honestly, his b/f knowledge is limited.

More often than not, doctors are the ones pushing formula on stressed out new moms...if you want solid info about breastfeeding, that's what lactation consultants are for. ;)

[Rach]

Yeah, I would agree that the digs from people like Heidi T. don't make the conversation any easier. Why was that even necessary?