Breastfeeding is not only vital for your baby's health but it is also important for the mother's health. New research shows that women who breastfeed for less than a 1 month have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes later in life than women who breastfeed longer than one month.
The research was done here in California looking at 2233 female members of Kaiser, between 2003 and 2008. 1828 of the women were mothers, the rest were women who had never been pregnant. The researchers compared the women who breast feed for more than a month to women who had never been pregnant and found that they had similar risk for type 2 diabetes. However women who breast feed for less than a month had a greater risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life.
Laruie Barclay, MD who wrote the review, go on to say "Risk of type 2 diabetes increases when term pregnancy is followed by <1 month of lactation, independent of physical activity and body mass index in later life," the study authors write. "Mothers should be encouraged to exclusively breast-feed all of their infants for at least 1 month."
I recommend that women if possible breast feed until at least 6 months, longer if possible as breast milk is a good source of vitamins, nutrients, immune cells and mother child connection. If you were unable to breast feed longer than a month, please know this article does not mean that you will end up with the Type 2 diabetes. There are things that can be done, to lower your risk.