Hi Libby,

Here is an abstract of the Acheson study:

L Acheson, Family Violence and Breast-feeding. Arch Fam Med 1995;
4:650-652.

Abstract: "A a retrospective review of medical records was conducted for
800 pregnancies followed up to delivery in one family practice. The review
revealed a previously unsuspected association between lack of breast-feeding
and physical and sexual abuse of the woman and/or her children. This
anecdotal association, not previously reported, is worth studying using more
rigorous methods."

The author comments that while this association was anecdotal only "...the
38-fold difference in frequency of identified domestic violence and child
sexual molestation between the group that successfully breastfed and the
group that did not is striking enough to warrant further investigation.
Plausible psychophysiologic mechanisms can be adduced to account for the
failure of lactation in a setting of severe psychological stress or abuse."

Kathy Pasakarnis

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