Women who breastfeed for at least five months have more kids

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Women who breastfeed their first child for five months or longer are more likely to have three or more children, and less likely to have only one child, than women who breastfeed for shorter durations or not at all.

In "Intensive Parenting: Fertility and Breastfeeding Duration in the United States," published in the journal Demography, Cornell University professor of sociology Vida Maralani, with Hunter College professor Samuel Stabler, reports that women who initiate breastfeeding did not differ in how many children they expected to have before they started their families. Rather, the number of children women actually bear differs by how long they breastfeed their first child. Women who breastfeed for shorter durations are more likely to have fewer children than they expected, while women who breastfeed longer are as likely to achieve their expectations as to exceed them.

The researchers caution that their results do not imply that breastfeeding duration causes women to have larger families. They write, "Our study reveals the opposite: the interconnectedness of family preferences and child investment across the life course." But they do find that many factors, such as differences in education, marital status, family income, and working for pay do not explain these patterns. The authors point to the need to study other potential explanations such as spousal support, preferences for time spent with children or work flexibility.

Overweight mothers are more likely to stop breastfeeding

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Despite heavily promoted benefits to infant and maternal health, a very small percentage of all mothers in the UK meet World Health Organisation recommendations of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. While around 80 percent initiate breastfeeding, less than one-fifth of babies are breast fed exclusively to three months (17 percent) and very few (1 percent) are breast fed exclusively to six months.

The study of 17,113 mothers from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of live babies born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, found that of the sample, 70 per cent of mothers initiated breastfeeding. Once researchers accounted for background characteristics such as education level and age, they found that underweight, healthy weight, and overweight mothers are similarly likely to begin breastfeeding.

But, having initiated breastfeeding, overweight mothers are more likely to cease within the first week. Among all those who initiate breastfeeding, overweight mothers are also less likely to continue beyond the 4 months stage, and the introduction of solid foods. For example, controlling for background characteristics, 18% of healthy weight mothers who begin breastfeeding cease within the first week, compared to 26% of overweight mothers. Also, 38% of healthy weight mothers who initiate breastfeeding continue beyond the 4 month mark, compared to 32% of mothers whose BMI is classed as overweight, and 27% of mothers whose BMI is classed as obese.

Probiotics and breastfeeding help fight antibiotic resistance in children

dietinpregnancy.co.uk

A targeted probiotic supplementation, in conjunction with breastfeeding, could help reduce the potential for antibiotic resistance, a new study suggests.

Probiotics (live bacteria and yeasts that are allegedly good for your health and digestive system) remain a controversial topic — their benefits are often oversold and rarely backed up by actual science. But in recent years, studies have shown that, in some specific scenarios, probiotics do offer significant advantages.

In a new study, researchers found that breastfed infants who were given a specific probiotic strain of B. infantis had, on average, 87.5% less antibiotic resistance genes in their gut microbiome compared to infants who were breastfed without that probiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is not something many people think about while raising their children, but perhaps we should start paying more attention to it: recently, the World Health Organisation announced antibiotic resistance as one of the biggest threats to global health, and this is definitely a growing concern for the younger generations. Having a simple way to reduce antibiotic resistance could make a big difference in the long run.

Antibiotic resistance

Because many members of the public take antibiotics when they are not required to, many pathogens have started developing an immunity to common treatments — even the strong treatments. This has become a great concern, especially as some infections have started going beyond the limit of what we can currently treat.

Misuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals is accentuating this problem, and researchers are looking for ways to combat it.

Dr. Giorgio Casaburi, lead author of the research, comments:

    “These results demonstrate that targeted bacterial supplementation is capable of remodelling the ecology of the infant gut microbiome and therefore reduce antibiotic gene reservoirs in children. We found that supplementation with the infant gut symbiont significantly diminished both the abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes”.

Casaburi and his colleagues administered the probiotic supplement for 21 days. They chose a probiotic uniquely adapted to thrive in the infant’s gastrointestinal system. The probiotic bacteria colonize the infant’s gut. Without it, the gut is colonized by other bacteria which enable the evolution, persistence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.

While this is a fairly small trial, it still showcases an important potential for dealing with antibiotic resistance in a safe way that doesn’t have any unwanted side effects.

    “The supplementation offers a novel approach towards providing an alternative, safe and non-invasive method to decrease the number of genes that resist antibiotics in infants” added Dr Casaburi. “This is the first demonstration of significant remodelling of the infant gut microbiome. This modulation could help to reduce the burden and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in current and future generations”.

The results have not yet been peer-reviewed and will be presented at European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition.

Source: zmescience.com

Is It Ok for Mothers to Overeat During Breastfeeding?

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Mothers who overeat during the period when they are breastfeeding may have children who are at increased risk of becoming obese and going through early puberty, a new study of mice suggests. Early puberty may lead to increased risk of diabetes or reproductive problems later in life, according to the research, which will be presented Sunday, March 18 at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society's 100th annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.

"Formula feeding is well known to increase the risk of obesity in children. Our findings suggest, however, that when breastfeeding mothers do not eat a moderate and healthy diet, there can also be increased risks of various health problems in the offspring, including obesity, diabetes, advanced puberty and reduced fertility," said lead researcher Mengjie Wang, M.D., M.S., a graduate research assistant at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences in Toledo, Ohio. "This idea must be tested in humans to know whether it applies to our species."

Wang noted that all over the world, puberty is starting earlier than it did in the past. "Childhood obesity, a common health issue, is one of the risk factors for early puberty," she said. "Previous evidence from animals has revealed that post-weaning overeating advances the timing of puberty, but we lack knowledge of how nutrition before weaning influences metabolism and reproduction."