Breastfeeding your teens?

So many factors are in play with lifelong weight and metabolism it's impossible to pinpoint one factor. My siblings and I were all formula fed and none of us are overweight. I am now, at 32 slightly overweight after being underweight for most of my life.

Both my children are exactly average sized and were formula fed.

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Diva Girl was bf for roughly 3 months. She's the tiniest girl in her class--a 1/2 split (she's one of the 2s)

Zen Baby is a newly minted 2 and still BF. She's possibly not a fair study sample as she also had a tumour roughly the size of a grapefruit removed from her abdomen a year ago. But, for informational purposes she weighed 15lb when we left the hospital, and weighs 25 now.

I agree with MelissaS that simply boiling it down to breastfed vs not breastfed is far too simplistic a way to look at the issue.

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I was breastfed for around 15 months, and my siblings were both breastfed about a year. None of us have had any weight problems during 9-14. My brother and I were borderline underweight at points during 9-14 because we both did one of those gonna grow 6" in a year growth spurts, and our weight didn't quite keep up for a few months. I've never had any weight problems, except for that little bit of post babyweight that refuses to leave.

I'm kinda curious to know if there's a difference between expressed milk and breastfed babies. I was always told it was the milk alone that gave the weight benefits, and not the act of nursing (regulating appetite). Paul was always very decisive about when he was done or when he wanted more, even though he had expressed milk and formula.

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Caitlin -

I don't know that the benefits reguarding weight problems would apply to a baby who was *exclusively* fed expressed breastmilk. Here's why.....

When a baby nurses at the breast, he gets the thinner, more watery foremilk first to quench his thirst. As the feeding goes on, the milk gradually changes to the thicker, richer hindmilk which is more filling. These changes help baby to realize when he is getting full. When drinking expressed milk, baby doesn't experience these changes during his meal.

Another thing is, a baby who is nursing at the breast is completely self-regulating. The milk won't come out if he isn't actively nursing. With a bottle in his mouth, the milk will come out if he wants it or not. Also, with a bottle there is often an effort on the part of the caregiver to get baby to "just take a little more" or to "finish off the bottle" so it's not really self-regulating like nursing at the breast is.

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My son was breastfed for just about 13 months. He's always been on the top end of the scale (10 lbs at birth, doubled by 4 months; at nine he's nearly as tall as me-I'm 5'4"). He's not overweight, just tall. He eats quite well (not picky at all).

My daughter weaned herself at about 8 months (and the last two I basically forced her to nurse) and has always been teeny-tiny. She was 7 lb 2 oz at birth and is just built small. She's lanky and skinny and she eats just fine.

My husband and I were both formula-fed and neither of us is overweight or has trouble self-regulating.

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This study seems much too incomplete to be useful. Genetics, diet, lifestyle and so many other factors play into body size. All of my children were breastfed for at least one year. My oldest is 15 now and he is a really big guy. My almost 13 year old is slender and strong. My 9 year old is small but not at all muscular.

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Birdie was fed expressed breast milk exclusively for 5 months, then formula.


I had GD, and he was 7.7 at birth, almost 17 at 4 months, and 20 at 6 and 23 at 9. He was 32 lbs at about year. He's down to 28 now that he's walking (16 months). We also started solids at 8 months.

I was very lucky and overproduced milk, so there was never any of this "Must finish the bottle" stuff for fear of "wasting" milk. It was no different than offering a breast, for me.


michele

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I think the study is saying that "all else being equal" the breastfed infant has a statistically better chance at having a healthy teen and adult weight, not that formula automaticallly makes you a fat teen or adult and vice versa.

Oddly, out of three sisters, my youngest has the healthiest weight and she was bresastfed for 23ms (however, I wouldn't claim that her diet was healthy - it's a fluke). My other sister and I, both formula fed, struggle with weight issues.

My son nursed for 22ms.

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I know of two people who were breastfed for a "long" time when they were young (between 2 to 3 years for "friend A", and 2 years for "friend B").

Friend A had many weight issues in high school, and although is now within her "ideal" weight, struggles constantly with maintaining. Her family has several people who struggle with weight.

Friend B is and has always been within her ideal weight range. Her family all is healthy and/or skinny.

I agree with Mamaloo's "All things being equal" statement. Since my family has MAJOR weight issues, I am 100% behind extended nursing my kids. Child #1 nursed for 40 months, child #2 is on month 13 with no end in sight. They need the "leg up", but obviously we'll focus on behavioral maintenance of weight, and not solely count on the benefits of breastfeeding.

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Well, this is hardly conclusive evidence, but I do know that I was the only one out of my five siblings who was not breastfed... and I'm the only one with weight issues as an adult.

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I was breastfed until I was 2, and was skinny until I hit puberty, when I began to look like my father's sisters, and unfortunately that hasn't let up. I am significantly overweight. I eat really well, too, but I hate to exercise, so there you go. Actually, DH and I have a new plan to hit the gym starting Monday, so we'll see... At least I'll get a shower (not something that happens often enough with a 7 month old in the house!!).

I plan to breastfeed my daughter until she weans herself, if nothing else because I have no idea how to get her to go to sleep otherwise. The rate she's going, that'll be when she's 18, and she has to wean in order to attend an out of state college.

This study may be too simplistic, but it's great ammo for extended nursers to fire at the nay-sayers we encounter - "Is that baby STILL nursing?" they say. "Yes," we reply, "but studies show that extended nursing prevents obesity later in life." How can they argue with that, when everyone knows that obesity is a problem, especially in the US?

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I breast-fed all 5 of my children, and the oldest two are 14 and 10. The 14 y/o was nursed until 18 months and is now 5 foot 8 and weighs 130; the 10 y/o was breast-fed for two weeks shy of 24 months, and is 5 feet tall and 105 pounds. They are both tall, thin and lanky for their age. Also muscular, because they are in competitive swimming.

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I was bf until 10 months and am overweight. My husband was bf 14 months and he's overweight. We both have a hard time self regulating. As teens neither of us were overweight because we were both athletes. I swam and played basketball and my husband played football and track. That said, I'm still bf my 14 month old for a variety of reasons.

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Weight issues haven't been a problem for anyone in our immediate family. My reasons for extended nursing really have very little to do with the lower chance of obesity.

Keithen nursed until he was 3.5 years old. Kaylee nursed for about 22 months. Ruby is still nursing and she turned 3 years old last month. If anything, they are all on the small side...but that runs in our family anyway!

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My older two sons were both breastfed for a year. The older one has weight problems, they younger one does not. But it's not because of the breastfeeding; the older one has a difficult relationship with food. It started when he was 8 and had medical problems which included 3 weeks in the hospital trying to find out what was wrong, and having to be on a liquid diet for several days at a time.

The younger one made a decision when he was about 12 that he would NOT be overweight and started to work out. He studied about healthy diets and portion control and then made sure he always ate that way.

The baby of the family, a skinny bottle fed child, is still too young to know what weight issues, if any, he will have.

So at least in out family, breastfeeding a child into their second year doesn't really have much of an effect. But other experiences do.

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I regret breastfeeding my kids, for lots of reasons. If I had to do it all over, I`d probably choose the bottle.

I`m not sure I believe the breastfeeding/weight correlation, though. My now 9-year old daughter, exclusively breastfed (never even tasted formula) is now underweight, and being monitored for nutritional concerns -- over the 50th percentile in height, and in the single digits for weight. I don`t blame breast-feeding for that, though.

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I BF my son for almost 3.5 years. He is now 13.5 years old and is 5'5" tall, weighs a scant 110 lbs AFTER dinner. He's skeleton thin.

I pumped for his twin sister for ~6 months and then formula fed her. She's 5'5" tall and weighs about 116. She's also been through puberty while her brother has not.

So, I'm a data point that says this study is not worth much. A 6 lb difference between two children of the exact same age, one formula fed, one breast fed, isn't really much to worry about.

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My family is probably the biggest contradictory to this study.

My husband and his brother were fed formula and they're both incredibly skinny.

I was breastfed for 9 months. My oldest sister was mostly fed formula. My other sister was breastfed for 18 months. She is the only one of the three of us who is morbidly obese. The other two of us are healthy/borderline overweight. Then again, my mom was bulimic and my dad was anorexic so it's not like breastfeeding would've helped a cultural problem.

My kid developed severe allergies to formulas: dairy, soy and corn. As a result of his allergies, prior to determining that the problem was, he lost a ton of weight. After figuring out the problem, and exclusively breastfeeding, he recovered somewhat, although he still hovers below the 3rd-percentile line on the growth chart. So I guess, technically, formula caused my son to be thinner than he would otherwise have been. That bucks the trend!

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Oh, and I forgot to mention that my son is still breastfeeding and is 15 months old.

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As I am still pregnant, I cannot speak for my child.

I can speak regarding myself, however. I'm 30 years old, was formula fed, and have been overweight most of my life. However, my family did encourage a sedentary lifestyle instead of activity and both of my parents were/are morbidly obese. To me, this study is like saying that diet or exercise alone will keep you thin or that drinking 120oz. of water daily is what you need to remain healthy. There are a lot of factors not taken into account for.

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