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This is quite true. We perform mammograms at the clinic where I work, and the number of total months breastfeeding is an important patient history risk factor that we enter into the data at the time of the mammogram.
That's interesting! I don't think I've ever been asked if I breast fed at a mammogram appointment. I have been asked about family history of breast cancer.
I voted 24-36 months in your poll because you didn't have an option for >36 months.
My first nursed until just past 4.5 years, or 55 months. I pumped at work until she was 12 months old.
My second is still nursing, and is almost 4 years old now, so 47 months and counting. I pumped at work until she was 20 months old.
They tandemed for 20 months of that, so I have breastfed for a total of 82 months (and counting).
According to the meta-analysis study in The Lancet 2002; 360:187-195, "Our analyses here show that the relative risk of breast cancer is reduced by 4·3% (95% CI 2·9–5·8) for each year that a woman breastfeeds, in addition to a reduction of 7·0% (5·0–9·0) for each birth. These relations are significant and are seen consistently for women from developed and developing countries, of different ages and ethnic origins, and with various childbearing patterns and other personal characteristics."
So, I've had two births (2*7=14) and almost 7 years of breastfeeding (7*4.3=30.1), therefore according to these stats, I've reduced my risk of breast cancer by (14+30.1=) 44.1%. The rate of breast cancer in developed countries is 6.3%, which means that I've reduced my risk down to 2.8%. I can't say that this is the reason that I breastfed, but it's not a bad perk!
I"m not sure you can add up the risks (or lack thereof) like that. I couldn't find anything on the web to support (or not support) this, but most of the women I know who've had breast cancer have borne children. My guess is that is simply because most women have borne children.
ETA: I didn't vote in your poll, because you didn't include an option for nursing past 36 months.
I did vote for 36 months but I actually nursed my second for closer to 4 years. My firstborn I only nursed for five months. In retrospect I understand what the problem was but at the time I had very little support and even less knowledge. I was young and scared and when the doctors (he received care via a military medical hospital so it was often a different doc each time) threatened me with "failure to thrive" and CPS being called because he was not gaining at the rate they preferred, I freaked out and gave up.
Turns out, and I found out when he was a year old, that he was tongue tied (short frenulum) which was interfering with his nursing ability. Had I known that at the time...
Incidentally I was also tongue-tied, had a speech impediment as a result for most of my childhood, and had it "clipped" at age 16. My second son (the one I nursed for nearly 4 years) was tongue tied too, but I knew to look for it and had it taken care of when he was six weeks old.
It was, at least then, an often overlooked problem. Hope that isn't the case now but I thought I'd mention it for any moms out there to be watching out for this as it tends to run in families.
The issues with my firstborn were what I consider to be a direct result of ill-informed and ignorant medical professionals with regard to breastfeeding, breastfeeding difficulties, and the growth patterns of breastfed babies, etc. I hope things have changed in the past 20 years!
I"m not sure you can add up the risks (or lack thereof) like that. I couldn't find anything on the web to support (or not support) this, but most of the women I know who've had breast cancer have borne children. My guess is that is simply because most women have borne children.
Why do you say that you can't add up the risks like that? The article clearly states the decrease in risk for each pregancy and for each year of breastfeeding. What would that mean if not that you would add it up like that? It means that a woman who has borne one child and did not breastfeed would decrease her risk by 7%, compared to a woman with no children. However, a women with multiple births who breastfed for several years would have even further decreased risk. This is stated as background information for this study, which explored the further role of breastfeeding in decreasing risk.
From the article abstract:
Background
Although childbearing is known to protect against breast cancer, whether or not breastfeeding contributes to this protective effect is unclear.
[MOD CUT: Post original content only. Rephrase short articles; post links for long ones.]
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Last edited by springfieldva; 03-25-2013 at 03:45 AM..
Reason: Improper quoting of copyrighted material
I have 4 children, 3 biological sons and an adopted daughter. I breastfed all of my sons approximately until they were 6 mos. old. I would have breastfed them longer except they all got to a point because of teething where they quit and refused to nurse. I would have breastfed my daughter except that by that time I was on a few medications that made it unsafe to breastfeed her.
Why do you say that you can't add up the risks like that? The article clearly states the decrease in risk for each pregancy and for each year of breastfeeding. What would that mean if not that you would add it up like that? It means that a woman who has borne one child and did not breastfeed would decrease her risk by 7%, compared to a woman with no children. However, a women with multiple births who breastfed for several years would have even further decreased risk. This is stated as background information for this study, which explored the further role of breastfeeding in decreasing risk.
From the article abstract:
Background
Although childbearing is known to protect against breast cancer, whether or not breastfeeding contributes to this protective effect is unc[/u].
This says nothing about adding up all these numbers to obtain your personal risk. For one thing, do note that there are ranges in these numbers; not every woman's body works exactly the same, etc. I really have to raise my eyebrows at the statement "did not vary significantly by . . . . her age when her first child was born" b/c everything else I have ever read about breast cancer says that no or late childbearing increases your risk. I think the real concern I have is that I have read many posts by women stating that they don't get mammograms b/c they breast fed. As a doctor told me once, most women who get breast cancer do not have risk factors.
Last edited by springfieldva; 03-25-2013 at 03:48 AM..
son 1- 6 mos, worked full time and pressed for time
son 2- 16 mos, he stopped on his own, I would have continued, he was not interested!
daughter 3- 36 mos, she probably would have continued, but I was ready to stop. I never thought I'd breastfeed that long, but it was only in our home at night before bed.
This says nothing about adding up all these numbers to obtain your personal risk. For one thing, do note that there are ranges in these numbers; not every woman's body works exactly the same, etc. I really have to raise my eyebrows at the statement "did not vary significantly by . . . . her age when her first child was born" b/c everything else I have ever read about breast cancer says that no or late childbearing increases your risk. I think the real concern I have is that I have read many posts by women stating that they don't get mammograms b/c they breast fed. As a doctor told me once, most women who get breast cancer do not have risk factors.
If you don't trust the study, then say that. But it clearly concludes a risk reduction of 7% for each pregnancy and 4.3% for each year of breastfeeding.
If people think that breastfeeding is a magic bullet, then they are the ones misinterpreting the studies. Reducing risk is completely different from eliminating risk, and nobody is claiming that breastfeeding, or anything else, eliminates your risk for breast cancer.
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