I had not read this before but teen moms who breastfeed have better bone
density later.  Bottle feeding [formula] teen moms have lower bone density
than even teens who did not get pregnant.  This is an important fact for
those docs/nurses/midwives doing their prenatal care to prepare them to
breastfeed, including WIC I would think.  
Judy Ritchie

http://www.drgreene.com/21_1811.html

Breastfeeding, Bone Density, and Teens
Breastfeeding can help improve mothers' bone density. During the months of
nursing, calcium is taken from the bones, and the density decreases -
whether or not they are getting plenty of calcium in their diets. But the
months after nursing are one of the most important times in life to get at
least 1,000 mg of calcium per day (for adult women). When nursing has
stopped and the periods have returned, the bones eagerly recruit calcium.
It's a unique opportunity to increase bone density to last a lifetime. But
what happens in growing teens? About 500,000 teens in the U.S. bring new
babies into the world each year. About 1/3 of these are born to younger
teens, who are still growing themselves. We know that younger teens are more
likely to have underweight babies, as their bodies juggle the nutritional
needs of more than one growing individual. Does nursing put further stress
on the system? A team of researchers measured bone densities of hundreds of
young women to find out. The results were published in the July 2004
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. It turns out that the teens
who breastfed their babies had better bone densities when they are young
adults. And teens who bottle fed their babies ended up with weaker bones
than their peers who didn't get pregnant. Nursing is great for women and for
babies - and perhaps especially for teen moms.

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html