I was at a La Leche League meeting the other night and the question going around the room was: “Which benefit of breastfeeding first attracted you to the idea of nursing your child?” Most of the women in the room had responses that had to do with the baby’s health – things like reduced chance of allergies, less illness, bonding, etc. My answer was a little different because one of the first things that attracted me to the idea of breastfeeding had a lot to do with me. It was the reduced chance of the mother getting breast cancer. It’s funny, and sad, how the fear of cancer keeps cropping up in my life.

You see, my father died of cancer when I was 13 years old. Of course, that has nothing to do with breast cancer. He died of renal cancer. But still, ever since his death, I’ve had a preoccupation with all things cancer-related. I’m not a health nut exactly, but I try to keep away from the most obvious causes of cancer (smoking, for instance).

Considering how many people die of cancer, it always surprises me to see how many people choose to feed their baby artificially, which actually increases your risk of getting breast cancer. Yes, you could say that breastfeeding reduces your chance of getting breast cancer – that’s one way to look at it. But considering that humans were built to nurse their children, and have been doing it for thousands and thousands of years, I view nursing as the biological status quo. Therefor, choosing to feed your child artificial milk actually increases your risk of getting breast cancer.

According to LLL‘s The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, a woman who has given birth decreases her risk of getting breast cancer by 4.3 % for every year of breastfeeding. That means that I’ve already decreased my chance of getting breast cancer by about 20% so far. Yay!

Of course, there are many, many ways that breastfeeding can benefit both the health of mother and child. This site mentions a few: 101 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week 2007!