Prospective assessment of exclusive breastfeeding in relation to weight change in women

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 27; no. 7; pp. 815 - 820
• Main Authors: Sichieri, R, Field, A.E, Rich-Edwards, J, Willett, W.C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group 01.07.2003; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Publishing
• Subjects: Adult; Ambulatory care; Biological and medical sciences; Births; Body Mass Index; Body Weight; Breast Feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; Causes of; children; Cohort Studies; Dietary Guidelines; Epidemiology; Exercise; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; lactation duration; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; milk; neonates; Nurses; Obesity; Overweight; Parity; physical activity; physiology; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Prospective Studies; Puberal and climacteric disorders (male and female); Public Health; Thyroid diseases; Weight gain; Weight Gain - physiology; weight loss; women; Womens health; United States; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro Brazil; cohort; breastfeeding; weight change; overweight; lactation; BMI; Human; Prospective; Body mass index; Lactation; Body weight; Breast feeding; Woman
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0802285

OBJECTIVE: To study prospectively the relation of parity, prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), and exclusive breastfeeding to weight gain. DESIGN: The cohort of the Nurse's Health Study II, with analysis restricted to women who were aged 24 to 40 y at baseline (1989), who had a history of no more than one past full-term pregnancy at baseline, gave birth to one child between 1990 and 1991, but had no other pregnancies during the follow-up. SUBJECTS: 1538 of the 33 082 nulliparous women and 2810 of the 20 261 primiparous, in 1989. MEASUREMENTS: Introduction of daily formula/milk was assumed to represent the end of exclusive breastfeeding period. Duration of exclusive breastfeeding was categorized into 0, 1-3, 4-7, 8-11, and 12 months or more. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, physical activity, and BMI in 1989, lactation was associated with a weight gain from 1989 to 1993 of approximately 1 kg (statistically significant only for women nulliparous in 1989 with a BMI <=25 kg/m2 (P=0.02) and for those women primiparous in 1989, with a BMI 25 kg/m2 (P=0.04)) comparing women who breastfed with women who did not, and duration of lactation was unrelated to the magnitude of weight change (P>0.40 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: Although promotion of breastfeeding has high priority because of its enormous advantages for a newborn child, the associated maternal weight reduction is minimal. Dietary guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding women should include ways to prevent weight retention after parity.