Breastfeeding benefits: Are some exaggerated?

February 16, 2010 But many women feel the pressure to breastfeed can be at time overwhelming, especially when logistical or physical reasons make it even more challenging. Is that pressure warranted? Especially when some doctors and researchers say the evidence on some of the benefits of breast milk may be thin.

Katie Grimm said when she was pregnant with her now 3-month-old son Kaiden her decision was made.

"Before he was born I was gung ho, I was set on breastfeeding."

But two weeks after Kaiden was born, he lost more weight than doctors thought was healthy. Katie said she tried pumping, even drinking special teas to try to produce more milk it didn't work.

When she decided to switch to formula Katie said she went through a lot of guilt. She said women feel a lot of pressure to breastfeed even when it's not physically or logistically possible.

"Breastfeeding, breastfeeding 101, nursing is best for your baby."

Doctors and nurses agree breast milk is best and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies be breastfed exclusively for 6 months and continue to partially breastfeed for a year.

Deb Ferrarello, the director of Family Education and Lactation at Pennsylvania Hospital said breastfeeding can reduce a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancers and heart disease.

"For babies it reduces the risk of ear infections, gastrointestinal problems obesity and some intellectual benefits."

Dr. Paul Lyons of Temple University said there are identifiable components of breast milk that can help reduce ear infections and gastrointestinal disease but he is not convinced breastfeeding alone contributes to a higher IQ or a healthy weight.

"Those are remarkably complex multi-factorial measures. You can't put your finger on any one issue that sets in stone how much someone is going to weigh or how smart they are going to be when they grow up."

Many experts say because, generally speaking, most breastfed babies have mothers with a higher education level, a direct link between breast milk and IQ becomes very difficult to determine, that's ditto for obesity.

There is strong evidence breast milk itself has little to do with obesity rates considering that while the number of breastfed babies has gone up since the 70s so has obesity.

"So at a population level that doesn't make much sense even sub groups, Mexican-Americans breastfeed longer and have higher obesity risks," said Katie DiSantis, a research associate at Temple University.

But DiSantis said her studies indicate breastfed infants, who are exclusively fed from the breast, as opposed to breast milk in the bottle, an option for working moms, do have lower obesity rates because the mothers look more to the infants for fullness cues rather than focusing on emptying the bottle.

DiSanits said, so far, researchers have not found a component of breast milk itself that reduces obesity risks.

"It's a positive thing but the more we learn about it the more we realize it's outside factors."

Erin O'Hearn blogs:

Stop feeling guilty.

As I reported at 11 Tuesday night, the benefits of breastfeeding your baby are well documented. Most doctors agree the maternal antibodies delivered to the baby through breast milk offer greater protection against ear infections and gastrointestinal infections. But if you are a new mom, you've probably also heard that breastfed babies have higher IQ's and lower rates of obesity. This is where the evidence isn't as strong. In part because so many factors in a child's life contribute to IQ and weight, it is virtually impossible to isolate breastfeeding as "the reason" a child will score better on a test or maintain a healthy weight as a grown-up.

But with the majority of baby books and websites citing (or at least strongly implying) breastfeeding as THE way to ensure your child grows up smart, lean and illness free…there are many new mothers I've spoken with who say they feel an incredible amount of pressure to breastfeed even when it may not be a choice they can logistically or physically handle. After all, the majority of women today go back to the workforce after they have children, some as early as a few weeks after giving birth! Although pumping is an option, there is no law that requires businesses to offer a space for women to express milk. The majority of working women do not have their own private office which makes this option very difficult.

I've spoken to many mothers about this issue and many of them, at one time or another feel very guilty about not breastfeeding or stopping before the 6 months to a year that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.

In fact one mother posted this on my Facebook page: "There are many benefits to breastfeeding. Tried it myself after all the books, family and friends touting it. The books tell you what an amazing mother you are and this amazing feeling you have. I didn't get that feeling until the first time I gave my daughter a bottle. It didn't work for me and the books made me feel like a failure. Let women know that if breastfeeding doesn't work for them, that it is OK. They are still wonderful moms!" ---Terry

The guilt, Lyons says is not warranted. He said 6 months is great as a goal but he likens breast milk to money, "more is always better but less doesn't mean you have none." In addition he said guilt is not good for anyone; especially for a new mom already dealing with exhaustion, hormones and a host of emotions. His feeling? "It's not an irrevocably bad decision to be made, their children are quite likely to grow up healthy, happy and successful it is not the only thing you can do as a parent to foster the well being of your child….take a deep breath and realize there are lots of ways parents can influence the health and well being of their children."

As I mentioned in the piece, many researchers believe the higher IQ scores and lower obesity rates have more to do with environmental factors than the breast milk itself.

You can learn more about a recent Temple University study here:
http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2008_2009/10/stories/breastfeeding.htm

Here's two more articles that may be of interest
http://www.ahrq.gov/child/rickets.htm
http://children.webmd.com/news/20061003/breastfed-babies-arent-smarter?src=3DRSS_PUBLIC

Copyright © 2025 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.