Is Breastfeeding Good For Mom’s Heart?
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Breastfeeding is an important aspect of motherhood. On one hand, it helps a mother bond with her baby emotionally while on the other, it provides necessary nutrition and immunity to the new born. The immediate concern of new mothers who breastfeed is generally about the right positions for breastfeeding and the production of breast milk. Eventually, the discussion and research regarding breastfeeding gets limited to the same. There is a certain amount of awareness regarding its benefits for mothers; however, not many women are aware of its long-term benefits in reducing major health risks.
One of the immediate benefits of breast-feeding is that it helps shrink your ovary back to its original size due to the release of oxytocin hormone, which is also why it protects women from ovarian cancer. Earlier, it was widely believed that lower calories and weight loss were the factors that helped reduce the risk of heart disease in women. But now, a study published in the Journal of American Heart Association shows a strong association between breastfeeding and reduced risk of heart attack and stroke (1).
The observational study, which was conducted over 10 years on 300,000 Chinese women, recorded their lifestyle post child birth including the number of children they’ve had, whether they breastfed or not, and the number of years of breastfeeding. This comparative study revealed that women who used to breastfeed their baby for a year were at 9% lower risk of contracting heart disease than those who didn’t. The percentage almost doubled with every breastfeeding mother who had more than one child and breastfed each for more than a year. Despite considering lifestyle influences like obesity, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, and physical activity, the findings continued to favor breastfeeding mothers.
The observational study, however, provides a strong connection between breastfeeding and reduced heart attack risk, and does not conclude that women who do not breastfeed will necessarily contract heart disease. The study also does not conclude exactly how long a woman needs to breastfeed to alleviate the risk of a heart attack since the average duration that a woman breastfeeds in China, i.e., almost a year, differs from rest of the world. For instance, the women in West generally breastfeed for four to six months. While there is more research required in this direction, its imperative to focus on the major takeaways of this study.
It should be considered that following delivery, most women almost completely turn their focus away from themselves and prioritize their babies. In the process, they tend to overlook their own wellbeing and end up with health risks like obesity, high blood pressure, and high Low Density Lipo-proteins (bad cholesterol), which are all breeding grounds for all kinds of diseases, including heart attacks.
The first step towards alleviating this risk to give attention to your body’s needs. A woman’s metabolism changes drastically as her body starts storing excess fat to supplement necessary energy for the baby’s growth. Post-delivery breastfeeding helps in burning the excess fat by speeding up the metabolic rate.
Breastfeeding releases the hormone oxytocin which reduces high blood pressure and promotes High Density Lipo-proteins (good cholesterol). The increase in metabolic rate and reduction in fat reserves reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, a condition where fatty material deposits itself into the interior walls of the arteries, thereby block the blood flow.
Irrespective of what future studies may conclude about the ever-growing benefits of breastfeeding, rest assured it’ll do a world of good to you and your baby’s health. So, spend some quality time bonding with your baby the healthy way!
The post Is Breastfeeding Good For Mom’s Heart? appeared first on MomJunction.
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