Hello everyone!  My name is Kristin Thorfinnson.  I am a junior in the 
nursing program at the University of North Dakota.  I am currently taking 
Childbearing II and will be starting clinicals on the OB unit in a few 
days.  This area of nursing is very new to me, so I am eager to learn all 
I can.  
 Breastfeeding is fascinating to me.  I have been reading posts on 
this listserv for a few weeks now, and am amazed at the wealth of 
information there is!  One aspect of breastfeeding that really caught my 
attention was the possible link between breastfeeding and decreasing 
obesity later on.  With such an epidemic of obesity, it is wonderful to 
discover ways that can possibly reduce obesity.  I did some research on 
the relationship of breastfeeding and obesity.  I found that this topic 
has been quite controversial over the years.  The most recent data seems 
to show that breastfeed has a protective effect on obesity.  
 Grummer-Strawn and Mei (2004) looked at how breastfeeding duration 
affects the weight status of 4-year-olds.  They found that breastfeeding 
for longer than 6 months seemed to protect the children from becoming 
overweight.  
 I also found an article that was a literature review of 61 
published studies regarding infant feeding and obesity.  After careful 
review, Owen, Martin, Whincup, Smith, and Cook (2005) found that the 
overall consensus was that initial breastfeeding is protective against 
obesity later in life.  It was also interesting that they pointed out that 
having more mothers effectively breastfeed could lead to a less obese 
population in the future.  
 I found many studies showing that there is, in fact, a 
relationship where breastfeeding can protect against becoming overweight 
or obese.  However, I could not find definite reasons why it does this.  
Dewey (2003) explores the possibility that is could be due to the learned 
self-regulation of breastfeeding where an infant stops eating when full.  
She states that mothers can have the tendency to make a baby finish a 
bottle of formula not knowing that they are full.  Another possibility for 
the relationship is the difference in metabolism of breastmilk and 
formula.  She talks about the roles of insulin and leptin in obesity and 
the differences between breastmilk and formula.  The last possibility that 
Dewey (2003) suggests is the existence of confounds in the studies 
relating to attributes of the parents or environment that were not 
measured.  
 Since there hasn’t been conclusive evidence and “perfect” studies 
about the causal factor of the relationship of breastfeeding and obesity, 
there are still many skeptics.  This leads me to a few questions that I 
have for you.  Is there something in the breastmilk that seems to prevent 
or ward off obesity, or is there something in formula that is directly 
linked to being obese?  Do you think the relationship has more to do with 
what infants eat, how they eat, or when they eat?  Is there any evidence 
that the bonding experience of breastfeeding might somehow be associated 
with decreasing obesity?  Also, in your experiences, do you promote this 
information as a main benefit of breastfeeding when talking with expectant 
mothers?  Any information that you could give me is greatly appreciated!  
Thank you very much!

Kristin Thorfinnson, SN
University of North Dakota


Dewey, K.  (2003).  Is breastfeeding protective against child obesity?  
Journal of Human 
Lactation, 19(1), 9-18.  

Grummer-Strawn, L. & Mei, Z.  (2004).  Does breastfeeding protect against 
Pediatric 
Overweight?  Analysis of longitudinal data from the Center for Disease 
Control and 
Prevention Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System.  Pediatrics, 113(2), 
e81-e86.  

Owen, C., Martin, R., Whincup, P., Smith, G., & Cook, D.  (2005).  Effect 
of infant feeding on 
the risk of obesity across the life course:  a quantitative review of 
published evidence.  Pediatrics, 115(5), 1367-1377.

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