--- On Tue, 9/9/08, Margaret and Stewart Wills <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

(Can't quite Wiessingerize the headline because of the way the question 
is posed)

On another list, a discussion of breastfeeding and reduced cancer risk 
has brought up two contradictory questions.  The first:  If someone is 
breastfeeding a new baby around the clock, yet gets her period back at 6 
weeks. would she still benefit from a reduced breast cancer risk?  That 
reduction seems to owe partly to the lack of periods and the associated 
hormonal rise and fall, yet this person is swinging right back into the 
cycle.  Would any of the research take into account women's menstrual 
patterns during lactation?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That would be a great research topic. I'd love to know the outcomes.
~~~~~~~~~~

Then several people chimed in that their doctors had said that if a 
woman is *not* menstruating at least 25% of the time, she runs an 
increased risk of cancer -- which worried people who had several babies 
and breastfed each for a biologically normal span, and might have gone a 
decade or more with very few periods.  I've never heard anything like 
that, and can't seem to come up with any reference for it. Nor can I see 
any rationale, since having multiple pregnancies, lots of breastfeeding 
and few periods is closer to our biological norm than the modern 
scenario.  Someone speculated that the doctors might be extrapolating 
from certain horm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know that my gyneacologist explained that there was never a medical reason to build in a stop-week with contraception pills, but that it seemed in the early days that women didn't want to loose their periods (feeling less feminin or somthing like that)>
He explained that actually it was better not to stop and not to menstruate, because that would be a protecting factor for several female cancers.


Warmly,

Gonneke IBCLC, LLLL in southern Netherlands having regular menses for 42 years now, with a 14 year stop when having children

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