more breast feeding = less breast cancer
There's been a lot of news this week about breastfeeding, fertility and delayed pregnancy. NPR did a story this morning about a new study showing that breastfeeding reduces the chances of breast cancer for women who "delay childbirth." Basically, having kids later in life increases the chances for breast cancer, however breastfeeding voids out that risk. Luckily, older moms are more likely to breastfeed and rates of breastfeeding in general are slowly climbing. It's also good because--and no matter how many times I hear this I will never get used to it--1 in 9 women get breast cancer.
Also, over at Slate Amanda Schaffer takes a good, long look at the research about breast cancer and fertility treatments. This line drew me in:
"But there is little or no evidence that fertility treatments raise the odds of getting the disease. In other words, don't panic."Older moms rejoice ... even if you are chained to the couch for months on end.
in birth | breastfeeding
comments
hi! i saw your book news posted on cool hunting.
love the graphic + your blog banner.
this topic though is not true that breastfeeding protects older moms unfortunately. i assumed it protected all ages of moms, but it only has a smalll percentage of protection even for moms who give birth before 30. i found this out from several doctors + websites after breastfeeding my daughter 2 1/2 years, then being diagnosed with breast cancer while i was weaning her. lots of pregnant + breastfeeding moms have breast cancer + it's harder to diagnose + have mammograms with lactating breasts. plus, no one wants to think their lumps could be cancer. it's important not to let your guard down + thank you are protected from breast cancer, because you're never safe. and about fertility treatments causing breast cancer, there are many different types of breast cancer. some are estrogen responsive + some are progesterone responsive + some aren't stimulated by hormones at all, so it depends on the woman + type of breast cancer.
comment by mod*mom at May 24, 2007 1:32 AM
