It seems as though breastfeeding is a large part of the breakthrough that will
put an end to an epidemic once anticipated to last indefinitely. Perhaps this
new reason to encourage a mother to breast feed her child will be able to slow
the rate of child obesity and type 2 diabetes. Due to a significant new
discovery, it has been declared by the American Diabetes Association that there
is “new evidence that helps us understand how overweight parents pass along
diabetes to their children.”
It has virtually always been agreed upon by
doctors, chemists and researchers alike that breastfeeding has wonderful
benefits for your child, especially upon his or her overall developmental
health. Nonetheless, it seems as though the ADA has discovered another reason to
add to the list of this virtually universal recommendation for motherhood.
The Harvard School of Public Health held a recent study into this matter –
the study suggests that children who are breastfed by their mothers during the
first year of life are less likely to develop obesity as they get older. And, of
course, when a child does suffer from obesity, he or she is much likelier to
develop type 2 diabetes. For the sake of her child’s health both as a child and
throughout his or her life, breastfeeding is the very best possible thing you
can do when your child is young.
So, why is it that breastfeeding will make such a difference in a child’s
weight? It is a good question to ask. When a child is breastfed they are less
likely to develop obesity simply because they are fed when the mother responds
to the baby’s natural cries of hunger. When a child is not breastfeeding – they
have a set schedule for feedings and certain amounts of formula to be taken as a
part of that schedule.
When a child is breastfed he or she will feed until they are full and not
until the bottle of formula is empty. The hope is that this will be one of the
essential elements to a completely natural means of depleting what has been one
of America’s major health concerns.
The most recent research from the American Diabetes Association and other
sources, as I have said before, is just another reason to encourage every mother
to breastfeed if breastfeeding is at all an option. With one, simple and natural
answer to the question of this duo of major health conditions that develop in a
child’s early years, perhaps we will be on our way to a much healthier world for
our children. Later on, in retrospect, the overall health of the nation and the
end to the epidemic of obesity in children will be diminished.
