What breastfeeding really does to your body

You may just be happily surprised by these benefits

We all know that breastfeeding is good for our babies – there’s a slew of studies to prove that, which is why the World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and breastfeeding up to two years or beyond. But what’s less well known is that breastfeeding has plenty of physical and psychological health benefits for you too. And we’re not just talking about (maybe) shedding that post baby weight quicker.

“Breastfeeding is an important part of the way women’s bodies recover from pregnancy,” explains Dr Eleanor Bimla Schwarz from the University of Pittsburgh, who co-authored an extensive study into the long term benefits of breastfeeding in 2009. “The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them,” she says.

Local expert Hettie Grove, a midwife who trains lactation consultants via SA Certified Lactation Consultants, adds that the health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers are only just beginning to be discovered and understood. In fact, she says, not breastfeeding “might have profound effects on the mother’s health and researchers worldwide have started to look at this phenomenon”.

REDUCES BLEEDING AFTER BIRTH

Breastfeeding in the first few hours and days of your baby’s birth will help reduce postpartum bleeding and prevent haemorrhaging, plus it assists your uterus to get back to “normal”. Esme Nel Hough, professional liaison for

La Leche League South Africa, a non-profit organisation that provides information and support to breastfeeding mothers, says this is because your baby’s repeated suckling triggers the release of oxytocin from your pituitary gland. “This hormone not only signals the breasts to release milk to the baby, but simultaneously produces contractions in the uterus. These contractions help prevent postpartum haemorrhage and promote uterine involution – the return to a non pregnant state,” she explains. NO PERIODS = MORE MUCH-NEEDED IRON The longer you exclusively breastfeed, the longer it is before your menstrual period returns. That’s a generalisation and everyone differs, but most women will get their period back within six to eight weeks if they don’t breastfeed, while women who do breastfeed will not get their period for several months. Esme says staying in an amenorrheic (absence of menstruation) state helps to conserve the amount of iron in your body, which is important in the first months after pregnancy. “It also provides natural spacing of pregnancies,” she adds.

BETTER BONDING WITH BABY

“Mothers who breastfeed as soon as possible after birth tend to bond better, as the hormones are primed during labour for this bonding,” says Hettie. The hormone most responsible for this is oxytocin, known as “the love hormone” because of the feeling of love, calm and wellbeing it produces.

“Every time the mother breastfeeds, her oxytocin levels increase. So in a sense every time she breastfeeds, she falls more in love with her baby,” explains Louise Goosen, midwife, lactation consultant and chairman of the Breastfeeding Association as well as Milk Matters, a non-profit organisation that supplies breastmilk to babies unable to receive breastmilk from their mothers.

BETTER SLEEP

New moms who are being woken every two to four hours for a feed may find this hard to believe, but breastfeeding actually leads to better sleep. “A breastfeeding mother should get better quality sleep because her sleep cycle synchronises with that of her baby,” says Esme. Which is why following that age old advice to “sleep when your baby sleeps” is so important in the early months.

Another way breastfeeding aids sleep is that it makes you more relaxed and able to doze off more easily, and it does the same for baby so you both get more sleep. This is according to new research undertaken by the University of Western Australia, which found that the higher level of fat in breastmilk works with the hormones oxytocin, prolactin, melatonin and cholecystokinin to relax mom and baby. WEIGHT LOSS The most commonly known benefit of breastfeeding – quicker postpartum weight loss – is also, ironically, the most unreliable because it doesn’t apply to all women. “Funnily enough, in my experience it seems to work more for women who don’t need to lose that much baby weight,” says Louise. Still, while some studies have found absolutely no difference in

those women who take medicine to suppress lactation have a lower risk of breast cancer compared to those who never breastfeed

weight loss between women who breastfeed and those who bottle feed, others have shown a larger reduction in hip circumference and more fat loss in the first month after birth. It makes sense when you consider that producing milk requires between 200 and 500 calories per day, the equivalent of around 30 laps in a pool or an hour long bike ride. REDUCES THE RISK OF POSTNATAL DEPRESSION “It's been well documented throughout several papers that early breastfeeding helps in the prevention of postnatal depression,” says Hettie. One of these includes a study of 9 000 women by the American National Institute of Health, which found that women who hadn’t breastfed or who had stopped breastfeeding early on had a higher risk of developing postnatal depression.

Again, the “love hormone” oxytocin is believed to be responsible for this phenomenon as it promotes wellbeing and relaxation. Louise points out that the skin to skin contact required for breastfeeding has also been proven to help minimise depression.

Even if you are being treated for depression, Louise says it is advisable to continue breastfeeding, provided your doctor prescribes appropriate medication. “I've seen moms who have been urged to stop breastfeeding because they are depressed, and that often leads to more depression. They feel like they’re failing as a mother already, and being told to stop breastfeeding exasperates this feeling of failure.” A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER Get ready to feel better about yourself. “Breastfeeding helps mothers gain a confidence that lasts for a lifetime,” says Hettie. Louise says this is particularly true for first time moms who may struggle with feelings of inadequacy: “There is a huge biological and psychological satisfaction in being able to nurture and nourish your child, and that can definitely boost confidence levels.”

LESS STRESS, MORE CALM

Research published in the US journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that breastfeeding reduced high blood pressure by an average of 12 percent. That wonder hormone oxytocin gets the credit for this one too, according to another study, which found that women who had high amounts of oxytocin in their system – 50 percent of breastfeeding moms – had lower blood pressure after being asked to talk about a stressful personal problem.

Oxytocin can’t take all the credit for keeping moms calm, though. The milk-making hormone prolactin also plays a part in keeping you chilled, with yet another study showing this hormone was responsible for “a less intense response to adrenaline”.

LOWERS DIABETES RISK

A pivotal 2009 study done by the Women’s Health Initiative in the US proved that breastfeeding reduced a woman’s risk of diabetes by around 20 percent. Hettie says this is backed up by new research stating that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the lower her risk of type 2 diabetes. Breastfeeding is particularly important for moms who had gestational diabetes, she adds, as they have a higher chance of developing diabetes later on.

PROTECTS AGAINST OSTEOPOROSIS

This may seem contradictory. After all, how can breastfeeding possibly help protect you from developing osteoporosis when it takes lots of calcium (important to maintain strong bones) to produce breastmilk? "While you may use plenty of calcium to produce breastmilk, your body copes very well at restoring those stores of calcium,” explains Louise. In fact, new studies have shown that not only does your body’s store of calcium replenish itself after breastfeeding, in many cases it increases. And because calcium increases bone density, your protection against osteoporosis is increased at the same time. LOWER RISK OF HEART ATTACKS, STROKES AND HEART DISEASES A 2009 study by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh found that women who breastfeed lowered their risk of a heart attack, stroke and heart diseases. While breastfeeding for just one month can lower these risks, the study found that “it wasn’t until after six months of breastfeeding that the trend toward lower risk became statistically significant”. In other words, you need to breastfeed your baby for at least six months to have a good chance of reducing your risk of a heart attack, stroke and heart diseases this way. REDUCES RISK OF CANCERS Numerous studies have proven that women who breastfeed reduce their risk of oestrogen-driven cancers: ovarian and breast cancer. As with the heart related diseases, the longer you breastfeed the more likely you are to reduce your risk of these two cancers. For breast cancer, nursing your baby for at least one full year is reported to have the most protective effect.

It’s not entirely clear how breastfeeding helps reduce the ovarian and breast cancer risks, but researchers believe it has do with the structural changes in breast tissue caused by breastfeeding and the fact that lactation suppresses the amount of oestrogen your body produces.

Hettie says new research shows it may even be better for women who don’t breastfeed to stop their milk flow medically: “The study found that those women who take medicine to suppress lactation have a lower risk of breast cancer compared to those who never breastfeed. Researchers suspect that becoming engorged and not expressing could increase chances of breast cancer.”

So you see, not only is breastfeeding the best thing you can do for your baby, but it’s a great thing to do for yourself too. YB