Continued Breastfeeding May Help!
By Karen Miles, IBCLC
Hot flashes.
Trouble sleeping.
Vaginal dryness.
Increased risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia and osteoporosis.
They’re all reasons not to be excited about menopause, says Yale Medicine.
To put off the items on that list, you may be wondering what you can do to delay menopause or at least prevent entering menopause early. According to the Mayo Clinic and a study from the U.K. that was highlighted in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, numerous factors can contribute to starting menopause early: smoking, a diet heavy in refined pasta and rice, a family history of menopause, some health conditions such as thyroid disease and rheumatoid arthritis, past cancer treatments like chemotherapy and pelvic radiation therapy, and a premenopausal hysterectomy (uterus removal) and/or an oophorectomy (ovaries removal), to name a few. Unfortunately, only a fraction of those risk factors may be avoided by changing habits.
Besides healthy habits like avoiding smoking and cutting back on too much scrumptious pasta, did you know there is one additional, little-known action that could help with menopause timing – breastfeeding? A recent study with a sample size of 19,783 women from Alberta, Canada, showed breastfeeding for a total of 13 months or longer over the course of a lifetime could lessen the risk of naturally entering menopause before age 50. The study, reported on in the Nov. 11, 2024 edition of BMC Public Health, showed, “Longer lactation was associated with a slight narrowing of the distribution for timing of natural menopause centered around 50 to 55 years.”
(That’s great news if you consider that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports most women experience menopause between 45 and 55. Keep in mind also that the general definition of “menopause” is when menstrual periods have stopped for at least 12 months and continuing.)
While breastfeeding’s total mechanisms of action on the timing of menopause are still somewhat of a mystery, the BMC article’s authors suggest one mechanism may be “follicle sparing”. This term refers to the theory that, by suppressing ovulation, extended breastfeeding may protect the ovarian reserve by slowing its depletion.
Wish you could postpone menopause past age 55, though? Late menopause (past age 55 for its start) can actually be a bad thing, considering it increases risks for breast, uterine and ovarian cancers, says the BMC Public Health. So landing its timing between ages 50-55, with the help of breastfeeding to 13+ months, could be the sweet spot for menopause timing.
If you are on your way toward a total lifetime breastfeeding goal of 13 months or more, then this study’s findings may provide you with a little extra motivation to keep going!
Karen Miles is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Lactation Content Specialist with Milkify.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or be a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider for any questions you may have related to your own health circumstances.
