It has been noted that children of women who develop gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy), have a higher risk of developing obesity in childhood. However, breast feeding could reduce that risk of childhood obesity, a recent study suggests.
Exposure to diabetes when in the uterus, predisposes kids to being overweight when between the ages of 8 and 13.
However, these effects of diabetes can be negated if a child is breast fed for the first 6 months of life. This adds to the findings from earlier studies which state that breastfeeding offers a lifelong benefit of preventing for kids’ obesity.
There is also the expectation that since the child is protected from obesity, he or she is also protected against developing type 2 diabetes themselves.
This is an added reason for breastfeeding babies – already there many breastfeeding benefits that we know about: it can help increase bonding between the mother and her baby, it can reduce risk of respiratory infections and high blood pressure as well as asthma and atopy in the baby.
When this is added to the fact that breast feeding is also very beneficial for the mom as well in several different ways, and it all adds up to make breastfeeding an excellent personal choice.
