Is Your Fetus a Silent Killer or a Secret Savior?

[LKHattinen]

While it has been previously thought that the effects of pregnancy are mostly detrimental to the mother, new research shows that your child may instead be saving your life.

Edited by LKHattinen - 12/6/12 at 12:21am

[kitteh]

Aww, that made me tear up. Very interesting read.

[LKHattinen]

Thanks!

[here we are]

It better be my secret savior! Its helping my endometriosis, its just time that will tell how permanent the effects will be. I would appreciate any articles on the topic, please no silent killer for me!

[LKHattinen]

I'm sorry I had to remove the link, but yes it certainly looks like secret savior might be the answer! I'm glad to hear it's helping with your endometriosis, new research indicates that there is a good chance the effects will persist. It is of course a very complex issue, you can find the full article if you google:

"Is Your Fetus a Silent Killer or Secret Savior? LK Hattinen". 

Edited by LKHattinen - 12/11/12 at 10:51pm

[Banana731]

I enjoyed reading your article! Thanks!

[LKHattinen]

Thank you! 

[Mom2M]

Wow! Thank you so much for this article. It really makes me cry because I have MS and have been doing amazingly well after the birth of my daughter 3 years ago. My doctor agreed that during the immediate post partum time, the pregnancy was still having a beneficial effect and preventing relapse. It never would occur to my doctors or me that these cells could still be present and helping me. The other day I saw a woman who was one of my son's teachers years ago when I was in very bad shape from MS. She actually came running over and said what a miracle this child is for you!
Thank you. I'm going to do some research on this!

[LKHattinen]

Thanks for your reply, that's really wonderful to hear, made my day! This is of course something quite difficult to study in humans, but what we know so far is certainly looking positive! Definitely a topic to keep your eye on.

 I wonder are there other women out there reading this that have experienced something similar?

[Voondrop]

I found this article I read some years ago, titled "Preserved Through Motherhood" by Above Rubies magazine. It is very strongly pro-Christian & that might bother some, but it also lists the benefits of cancer prevention, MS, RA, diabetes, etc.

http://aboverubies.org/articles/english-language/-motherhood/1076-motherhood-preserved-through-motherhood

[MeepyCat]

I'm all for having as many kids as you want, but the Above Rubies article left a definite bad taste for me.  I have two kids (ages 3 and 5! breast fed for at least a year each!), and breast cancer.  To the best of our ability to determine, the carcinoma in my breast first arose while I was still nursing my youngest.  While breast feeding may reduce your odds of developing breast cancer, it does not reduce those odds to zero, but the implication of all the "breastfeeding prevents cancer!" articles is that if you'd nursed longer, this wouldn't have happened to you.

And those calming hormones that God gives to nursing mothers skipped right over me - no amount of nursing made a dent in my post-partum depression and anxiety. 

[Voondrop]

I can relate (though not to cancer). For my first baby, though I nursed him exclusively & did the AP I just didn't care for him at all until he learned to smile. I don't know if it was full blow PPD but I felt let down on so many levels. And no, the BF didn't help me either. I personally feel Nancy Campell is "off" on many levels but I generally am encouraged by the articles sent in by other readers.

[Banana731]

I'm sorry you had a difficulties with postpartum depression and your health after the birth of your LOs, Meepy. I didn't read the 2nd article, but It must be frustrating to see blanket statements like if you do X you will avoid Y, when you know so well that it's not always the case.

BFing is not a 100% preventative for anything. There are actual statistical numbers that go along with breast cancer risk rates and I believe that maxes out at a 60% risk reduction rate (I may be misremembering), so some women who breastfeed will still get cancer.

Breastfeeding doesn't prevent PP depression either, it just lowers a mom's overall risk of experiencing it. PP depression has been linked to inflammation, and nipple pain may even be a contributing factor.

When mom is depressed the relationship between mom and baby suffers. There are studies out there that have found that babes of mothers who experience PP depression are less socially competent and at greater risk for drepression as they get older. But then there is this study that found that if depressed mothers were breastfeeding, the babes were protected from the harmful effects of mom's depression. The authors found that the BFing moms (due to the nature of breastfeeding) touched and looked at their babies more than their bottle feeding counterparts, that breastfeeding moms didn't disengage in the way that is typical of pp depression.

All that to say, that while BFing doesn't keep moms from experiencing depression, the perseverance to keep BFing in the face of that depression may give those moms and babes more benefit than is realized at the time
Edited by Banana731 - 12/14/12 at 6:31pm

[LKHattinen]

Certainly some interesting points in the second article, but I think the way they were conveyed was a little one-sided. These issues are not quite so black and white. It's a good idea to remember that it is very difficult to study what happens on a cellular level in humans. Many of these studies, while supported by case studies in humans, are only carried out on rodents. They are by no means definitive.