New Studies Show How Moms Also Benefit From Breast-Feeding

"The study authors said women who breast-fed with "higher intensity and longer duration of lactation," were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes two years later.

Another study published last month in the Annals of Oncology found that women who breast-fed appeared less likely to develop certain kinds of breast cancer.

Researchers looked a compilation of 27 medical studies to see how often women who had breast-fed developed certain types of breast cancer. They found that women who breast-fed were 20 percent less likely to develop “triple negative” breast cancer, a form of cancer that has none of the common hormone markers, such as estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2).

Dr. Marisa Weiss, senior author on the cancer study and director of breast health outreach at Lankenau Medical Center in Philadelphia, said researchers are still unsure why breast-feeding seems to protect women from breast cancer but that doctors have theorized that the breast is not fully developed until a woman breast-feeds."