New news - link between BF and breast cancer ...

[Marls001]

Just heard this morning on NPR (US National Public Radio)(link ) that not only does BF help baby, it also protects moms against breast cancer! Great news for those of you who BF.

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool at National Cancer Institute - roughly calculates your risk factors for breast cancer.

Been known for a long time, Maris - and mothers who breastfeed have lower levels of ovarian cancer, too, compared to those who don't breaatfeed.

Quite interesting that it lowers the risk of ER-ve breast cancers though- I don't think anyone has ever reported that before, and it's quite counter-intuitive. Good news

Indeed

"Ursin's group found that breast-feeding cancels out the effect of delaying childbirth past the age of 25"

that is excellent news, i had ds, my first ever at 36, so pleased with this

there is hope for us oldies yet then !

"The rate [of bf] is much lower among African-American women"

that is surprising, a friend told me that African Americans in the US bf, usually over a year, i found this to be new info. to me, does any one know why ?

Not true, yellow....unlike in the UK, black women in the USA are the least likely group to bf, as the thing says.

There is historical baggage with this. It was explained to me by someone working in bf promotion in the States that slaves were often used as wet nurses for the slave owner's children, and not permitted to bf (or care for) their own children. This caused an ethnically-linked resistance to bf, which persists (even though the original reasons for it are - more or less - forgotten).

There are some stats somewhere on the web showing ethnic breakdown of bf in the USA.

Is it any breastfeeding that has a protective effect? Or do you have to be doing it for a certain length of time? Or does the protection increase proportionally does anyone know?

Lancet published review of the literature about 2-3 years ago found it was dose-related (as it were!). The longer you breastfeed, the better....I think they did maths work on the figures and got something fairly precise. You could do a PubMed search on something like 'breast cancer breastfeeding ' or something, to bring up the study. I have it somewhere on my hard drive, but it's late

tiktok, your info on the history behind african american breastfeeding rates is really fascinating.

I am interested in the feeding behaviour of asian women in the uk and wondered if you have any data? I'm aware that breastfeeding rates are intially higher ( but from personal experience) I get the feeling they mix feed much more often and give up more quickly?

I think it's cultural because my mum kept having a go at me for not supplementing with formula as all my family have done.

as I have now been bf for four years this is a very cheering read

When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, one of the websites reported a way to reduce the risk for family members was to have children and BF.

This is really good news but my maternal grandmother died of breast cancer at 45 despite having breastfed her children for over a year and my paternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer at 52 despite having breastfed her 3.

The one thing these two strong women had in common was that they were too embarassed to seek medical attention when they thought that something was wrong. Don't allow that to happen...

amijee, I don't know of any national survey, but there has certainly been work done on Asian women and breastfeeding. You could do a literature search on the web, or you coud pay for something like a MIDIRS search (google MIDIRS).

My recall of the studies I have seen, and indeed my own observations and from talking to other people, is that you are right.

Most Asian women start off breastfeeding (the withholding of colostrum, which is a cultural practice, seems to be done only rarely these days) but many introduce bottles of formula after a short while. I don't know what the stats would be, in comparison with other ethic groups - the majority of breastfed babies in the UK in all groups get formula at some point, after all. However, it seems that Asian women feel that breastmilk somehow ought to be supplemented with formula, and that doing this improves the nutrition for the baby and supplementing is not particularly something you do when you hit a problem with bf - which is what other mothers do, I think.

This is purely impressionistic as I have never seen a study looking at this aspect.

Cadmum, I have lost two very close friends to breast ca. and each of them breastfed their children for years, and neither had children 'late'. Both checked all the boxes for low risk.

Stats, as we know, show relative risk, not a guarentee, sadly

thanks tiktok ( apologies to all for highjacking thread)

I've done a search and the only info I could see was the DOH infant feeding survey 2000 which purely looked at breastfeeding rates as opposed to mixed feeding etc and reasons behind it etc.

I guess it's a good area to study and intervene in...?

thanks for that tiktok, the slavery thing + wet nursing is a good point. i hadn't thought of that.

i heard on another thread and read in the papers that wet nursing is the new "fashion" among the rich in China, exactly the same awful thing is happening, a poor Chinese mother will be employed by a rich woman in the cities, will wet nurse, but has to leave her own baby behind to be cared for by a female relative and of course then formula fed. it is very

i guess it is because i often see African women bf here in the UK, which made me wonder, but i guess they must have come directly from Africa, for example Nigeria, where i have heard the decades of bf decline have thankfully been reversed somewhat (thro' effort of WHO and UNICEF ?)so that many African women now bf at initiation and keep at it for longer than whites groups here in the UK. that is great news, although i think parts of Africa still suffer from low bf rates ?

Most of my Asian friends here in the UK did not bf for long, started 100% ff very early on and often tell me that their mothers did not encourage excl. bf, just a personal observation though.

I am always fascinated by cultural differences.

Black women in the UK who come from African or Caribbean backgrounds have a very high bf rate, at least at initiation. Can't point to studies, but I see this everywhere and people have confirmed that they do, too.

Very interesting study here:

Racial/ethnic differences in breastfeeding initiation and continuation in the United kingdom and comparison with findings in the United States.

Kelly YJ, Watt RG, Nazroo JY.

It's on the web.

Shows how black and ethnic minority women here (UK) initiate bf more and stay bf longer than white women....and that non-Hispanic black women in the USA are the group there who are least likely to bf.

thanks for that. Just skim read it - it certainly shows the higher rates but doesn't look into the formula question.

Tiktok, do you know if there is any data comparing how much greater a benefit there would be exclusively breastfeeding as opposed to mixed?

Personally, I'm still feeding my ds twice a day at (nearly) 9 mths and am wondering just how much benefit he is still gonna receive from that. ( I would be less tied down if i stopped) I've seen the stuff on kellymom about the benefits of extended breastfeeding but it's not clear whether it's for exclusive breastfeeding mums.

aimijee, good question, often covered before but worth a regular airing!

Extended breastfeeding is always breastfeeding that's not exclusive, because other foods become part of the diet alongside the breastfeeding. Do you mean extended breastfeeding alongside formula as well as other foods? That's still beneficial - you don't affect the benefits of breastfeeding by using formula, not after other foods are in the diet. Sorry if I am misunderstanding you!

Could be worth a new thread if you want to take it further.

thanks tiktok, will look at it later

chinese have been wet nursing for years.

my mum bf all four of us and still got cancer. though i have different theories what caused it

i think as the cultural connection between mother and daughter are lost and many women moving to the UK find themselves in a difficult position.

maybe they think that bottle-feeding is some how more modern or more western, when of course they are trying to intergrate into the community will be a powerful factor.

no facts unfortuneately.

south - yes i am sure they have as in other parts of Asia, i read an article recently though that said there has been a sharp increase on mainland china in just the past few years due to increasing wealth, rural women looking for jobs in the big cities, etc. it has become increasingly a commercial enterprise.

i don't object to wet nursing as a survival method, i object to it being commercialised and a luxury item for the rich. i think it is really sad and will have a huge impact on the health of poor, rural babies and mums.

casbie - i am sure you are right. many immigrant cultures in different parts of the world may see ff as modern and western.