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These days, it’s rare to find mothers who breastfeed their children. According to centers for disease control and prevention, 16.5% of mothers in New York breastfeed their kids exclusively for 6 months. Many mothers use formula because they cannot afford to breastfeed their children due to their social statues (The wall street Journal). However, a recent study by Kaiser Permanente has shown that breastfeeding may prevent the recurrence of breast cancer. Furthermore, the study found that the recurrence rate for breast cancer patients who breastfed their babies decreased by 30%.
Breastfeeding helps cancer patients who developed luminal A breast cancer, which is caused by estrogen. According to MD Anderson Cancer Center, while breast feeding baby, the mother’s breast tissue sheds, lowering the risk of developing breast cancer by reducing DNA damage. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that women who breastfeed their child more than 6 months develop tumors that are less aggressive. This is significant because it shows that breastfeeding can help or prevent the recurrence of breast cancer and the tumor that does develop is likely to be less aggressive.
Breastfeeding has many benefits to both mother and child. Breastfeeding helps the development of the immune system in babies and decrease the risk of breast cancer in mothers. There are also other benefits as well. When a mother breastfeeds her child, she tends to stop drinking and smoking; the effort and change in dietary and self-care habits while breast feeding can also decrease the risk of developing breast cancer.
http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2014breastfeedingreportcard.pdf
http://www.independentnews.com/health/study-shows-lower-breast-cancer-risk-for-women-who-breastfed/article_ea7e9000-f44e-11e4-8511-373d5b8a5ef6.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2014/04/14/5-reasons-american-women-wont-breastfeed/
