Breastfeeding may lower risk of symptoms in mothers with bowel disease

MedWire News: In mothers with inflammatory bowel disease, breastfeeding is not associated with an increased risk of disease flares and may actually protect against an exacerbation of symptoms, researchers have found.

“Breastfeeding has been shown to have many beneficial effects on child health and development, and as a result it is recommended as the primary form of nutrition for at least the first 24 weeks of an infant's life,” explain Dr Dana Moffatt, from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and team.

However, they add that the results of a previous small study conducted in the USA suggested that women with inflammatory bowel disease are less likely to breastfeed than other women, and that breastfeeding among women with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease is associated with an increased risk of symptom flares.

To examine breastfeeding rates in women with inflammatory bowel disease, and the association of breastfeeding with symptom flares, the researchers studied 132 women with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease who had previously given birth and completed a breastfeeding questionnaire.

The team found that 82% of the participants with Crohn's disease and 84% of those with ulcerative colitis had initiated breastfeeding. This is greater than the 77% of women in the general population who breastfeed, notes the team.

Further analysis showed that just 26% of those who breastfed their babies experienced a symptom flare within 1 year of giving birth compared with 29% of those who did not breastfeed their infants.

The risk of symptom flares was not related to age at pregnancy, duration of disease, or socioeconomic status.

Dr Moffat and team conclude in the American Journal of Gastroenterology: “This study provides reassurance to women and their physicians that breastfeeding in the setting of inflammatory bowel disease is feasible, successful and possibly protective with respect to disease activity in the postpartum year.”