Washington, June 19: While every mother wants what is best for their infant, those moms with multiple sclerosis (MS) have difficult choices to make. Breastfeeding, which is the best option for a baby, may not be possible due to medications taken to control the symptoms of MS. However, it has been shown that exclusive breastfeeding may help protect women that suffer from multiple sclerosis against relapses of their disease, possible by delaying the immediate return to normal monthly cycles after giving birth.
The researchers found that patients with MS who nursed their babies exclusively, which means no bottled formula, for at least two months after birth appeared less likely to have a relapse within a year of the child’s birth than women who chose not to breastfeed. In the Archives of Neurology, the researchers wrote, “It is well-known that women with MS have fewer relapses during pregnancy and a high risk of relapse in the postpartum period.”
Women are also advised not to take their medication for MS during their pregnancy or while they are breastfeeding, so the patients must choose between breastfeeding their infants and resuming their treatment. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life and to continue nursing them for at least one year.
Dr. Annette Langer-Gould, who is formerly from Stanford University School of Medicine in California and is now from Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and her colleagues studied 32 women who were pregnant and suffered from MS and 29 women who were pregnant who did not have MS.
Nearly all, approximately 96 percent, of the healthy women breastfed their infants, as opposed to the 69 percent of the patients that has MS. The researchers found that 87 percent of the women that had MS who did not breastfeed, or who started their infants on formula within two months, had a relapse of their symptoms, compared with the 36 percent of those who exclusively breastfed their infants for at least two months.
Also, the researchers noted that the women who breastfed exclusively delayed the return of their normal menstrual cycle. The women whose month cycles stayed repressed— a normal effect of breastfeeding—were those whose symptoms of MS did not come back.
The researchers said, “Studies of immunity and breastfeeding, while plentiful, are predominantly focused on breast milk content and health benefits to the infant. Little is known about maternal immunity during breastfeeding.”
Multiple Sclerosis occurs when the immune system attacks the fatty myelin sheath that protects the nerve cells by mistake. Multiple Sclerosis affects approximately 2.5 million people across the world, disproportionately the women who are of childbearing age. The disease can cause mild illness in some patients and a permanent disability in others. The symptoms include numbness or weakness of the limbs, loss of vision, and an unsteady gait.
—Agencies–