Breastfeeding Helps Curb Childhood Obesity

By Rallie McAllister, M.D.

Obesity in children is much easier to avoid than to treat, and prevention begins with the most important person in your child's life: you. It starts in early infancy, with your baby's first meal.

Off to a Good Start

One of the best ways to start your baby off on the right nutritional path is to breastfeed. Dozens of studies have shown that newborns who are breastfed for the first six months of life are dramatically less likely to become obese than formula-fed babies. The risk appears to be even lower for babies who continue to nurse for seven months or more. The longer an infant is breastfed, the greater the protective effects against obesity, and the longer those effects last.

Children who are predominantly fed mothers' milk during the first six months of life have a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity throughout childhood, even nine to fourteen years later. Compared with infants that are fed commercial formula, the estimated reduction in risk is approximately 22 percent. For this reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be fed mothers' milk exclusively for the first for to six months of life, and that breastfeeding be continued beyond the first birthday, if possible.

Breast Milk Vs. Formula

There are several schools of thought about why breastfed infants are less likely than formula-fed babies to become overweight later in life. One theory is that breastfed infants have more control over their food intake and thus their calorie consumption. They tend to nurse as long as they're hungry, and they promptly stop when their full bellies tell them that they've had enough. As a result, breastfed babies rarely overeat.

Formula-fed babies, on the other hand, have less control over their food intake, while their mothers have more. Many conscientious moms encourage their babies to finish the entire contents of the bottle at each feeding, especially after they went to the trouble of preparing it.

Infant formula is pretty pricey these days, and most moms find it economically prudent to feed it to their babies--whether they want it or not--rather than pour it down the drain. For this reason, moms may prod their newborns to keep eating, even when their babies have indicated that they are full.

Nursing infants consume fewer calories at each feeding than those who are bottled fed for still another reason. Breastfed babies consume 80 to 90 percent of the milk that they drink in the first four minutes of nursing, and this milk is relatively high in water content. The "hind milk" that follows is richer in fat and calories, but it is consumed in much smaller quantities, after the baby's hunger has been largely satisfied. Formula-fed babies, on the other hand, get a steady flow of milk that is uniform in fat and calorie content throughout the first ten minutes of feeding.

Another theory holds that the protective effect of breastfeeding against obesity could involve the metabolic consequences of consuming breast milk. Mothers' milk contains substances that seem to limit the number and size of fat cells in newborn babies' bodies.

There's little doubt that breastfeeding helps protect infants from becoming overweight later in life, but the practice of nursing newborns is important for other reasons.

Nature's Perfect Food

Not surprisingly, breast milk is the perfect food for babies. Its natural components are easily broken down and absorbed by infants' immature digestive systems. Mothers' milk is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients required for proper growth and development. It provides babies with the enzymes and the antibodies that they aren't able to produce themselves, and protects them against the development of food and environmental allergies as they grow older.

Breastfeeding Benefits for Mom

Mothers get a few bonus benefits for themselves when they choose to nurse their newborns. Mothers' milk is practically free. It is far less expensive than commercial baby formula, which can set new parents back about $1500 in the first year of a baby's life.

Nursing your infant means that you always have a convenient, instantly accessible food supply. It relieves you of the unpleasant task of preparing and heating bottles in the middle of the night. Lactation also triggers muscular contraction of the uterus, speeding its return to a normal size. Mothers who breastfeed their babies burn a lot of calories in the process of producing milk, making it a little easier to shed extra postpartum pounds. Best of all, breastfeeding lowers a woman's risk of developing cancer later in life.

Mom's Decision

If you can't or don't want to breastfeed your baby, formula feeding is a perfectly acceptable alternative. But if you're still on the fence about which method to choose, you might want to give breastfeeding a try--you can switch from breast to bottle at any time. Once you begin breastfeeding, chances are excellent that you'll find it to be an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling experience--for you and your baby.