A Blog Worth Repeating...

This past February, I reported a study showing that breastfeeding may lessen multiple sclerosis relapse and, as it's been four months, it's time for an update. This week, the researchers of the study brought us some additional information. They believe that breastfeeding may protect women with multiple sclerosis against relapses, most probably because there is a delay in their return to normal monthly cycles.

The study found that MS patients who nursed their babies for at least two months, exclusively, were less apt to have a relapse within a year of the child's birth than women who did not breastfeed. One of the authors states, "It is well-known that women with MS have fewer relapses during pregnancy and a high risk of relapse in the postpartum period."

Women are advised not to take MS medications during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, so they have to choose between nursing their babies or restarting their treatment. Dr. Annette Langer-Gould, of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and her colleagues studied 32 pregnant women with MS and 29 pregnant women without MS. Virtually all of the healthy women (96 percent) breastfed their babies. Only 69 percent of the MS patients breastfed. Langer-Gould's research found that 87 percent of the women with MS who did not breastfeed had a relapse, compared to 36 percent of those who gave their babies only breast milk for at least two months.

One of the benefits of breastfeeding is that it delays the return of menstruation. The researchers found that moms who were not getting their periods because they were breastfeeding, were those whose MS symptoms did not return. The authors wrote, "Studies of immunity and breastfeeding, while plentiful, are predominantly focused on breast milk content and health benefits to the infant. Little is known about maternal immunity during breastfeeding." Now they can add this study to that short list.