Breastfeeding

Dermatology residency programs should address and help with barriers that nursing trainees face during their residency, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology.

HOUSTON — Children delivered vaginally and those who were breastfeed had lower odds of developing allergies, according to study results presented at the American College of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology Scientific Meeting.

Women who breastfeed for at least 12 months are 30% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes and 13% less likely to develop hypertension during 10 years of follow-up when compared with women who never breastfed, according to a meta-analysis of more than 200,000 women published in JAMA Network Open.

SAN DIEGO — In a session here, Marlene P. Freeman, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and associate director of the Center for Women’s Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, discussed the risks and benefits of different pharmacologic treatment options for women of reproductive age with mental illnesses.

A cohort of mostly Hispanic children exposed to gestational diabetes in utero who were exclusively breastfed were 44% less likely to develop obesity when compared with similar children who were not exclusively breastfed, but only intake of sugar-sweetened beverages was low, according to findings published in Pediatric Obesity.

Between August 1 and 7, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, or WABA, will be highlighting ways in which breastfeeding can be endorsed and sustained throughout the world.

Lisa R. Sammaritano, MD, is an associate attending physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery and an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is particularly interested in reproductive issues, such as contraception and pregnancy, among patients with rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. She spoke with Healio about how pregnancy affects the disease course of RA, treatment options during pregnancy and breastfeeding and unmet needs in the management of these patients.