Breastfeeding Reduces A Mum’s Chance Of Getting Breast Cancer – And Of The Disease Returning

The idea that breastfeeding can lower a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer isn’t a new one. For years now it’s been hailed as a reason why ‘breast is best’.

But up until now there hasn’t been a great deal of proof, if any at all, that it stops cancer from developing in the breasts – and returning to women who have battled with it once.

However a landmark new study appears to change all that. Research, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, has shown that breastfeeding cuts the likelihood of developing the disease by over a quarter – which is pretty huge news.

The researchers also discovered that if you’ve had breast cancer before, breastfeeding reduces the chances of it returning by 30 per cent. Again, quite a reassuring figure for cancer survivors.

Breastcancer.org says that a woman’s chances of avoiding breast cancer are higher the longer she breastfeeds, and advises mums to nurse their child for over a year if possible.

The new study also showed that the length of time a woman breastfeeds for is paramount, but suggested that just six months (the amount of time the World Health Organisation recommends) might be preventative enough.

Making milk constantly limits breast cells’ ability to misbehave and the majority of woman has less menstrual cycles when breastfeeding – effectively lowering their estrogen levels.

Plus, smoking and drinking alcohol tend to be avoided when breastfeeding – factors that can contribute to breast cancer.

To obtain their stats, US researchers polled 1,636 women with breast cancer. When looking over the results, they discovered that breastfeeding did indeed protect against the most common genetic type of breast cancer – luminal subtype A. But it didn’t safeguard against the rarer forms of the disease.

“This is the first study we’re aware of that examined the role of breastfeeding history in cancer recurrence, and by tumour subtype,” says Marilyn Kwan, research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.

Here in the UK, we have a very low breastfeeding rate compared to other countries across the world.

The NHS calculates that an impressive 82 per cent of mums begin breastfeeding, but this figure slopes off to 55 per cent just six weeks later. And only one in 100 breastfeed exclusively for six months.

These low figures could be due to difficulties that can come with breastfeeding.

While most mums-to-be are fully aware that they should give breastfeeding a go because of the benefits to their child’s development, some women simply can’t produce milk, get their baby to latch on or just really don’t get on with it.

There’s a lot of concern about the lack of breastfeeding support for new mums in the UK, with many new mums admitting that they would have loved to have breastfed their baby for longer – or at all – but didn’t have anyone to help them overcome the issues.

But while getting one-on-one time with your health visitor post-birth might be a struggle, there are some fantastic support forums and sites out there, such as The Breastfeeding Network.

Alternatively, you can give the National Breastfeeding Helpline a ring on 0300 100 0212 or get involved with their live web chat service.

Would this new research tempt you to breastfeed for longer, if you can? Let us know in the comments.

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