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Breastfeeding Leads to Better Mental Health
Remember just last week when a group of scientists announced that breastfeeding doesn’t necessarily make babies healthier? It may be that the benefits are more mental than physical.
A new Australian study suggests the soothing benefits of nursing longer than 6 months last long past infancy.
The researchers found that babies breastfed longer than 6 months have better mental health outcomes throughout childhood than their bottle-fed peers.
This wasn’t one of those studies that looked at 10 babies and made wild generalizations either. The study included 2,366 children, who received a mental health assessment at ages 2, 5, 8, 10 and 14. At each age, researchers found the children who had been breastfed for less than 6 months were more troubled. They had higher rates of both depressive behaviors and aggressive ones.
It’s not clear the magic of mother’s milk was entirely responsible for the better outcomes. Mothers who breastfed for less than 6 months tended to be less educated, less affluent, younger and more stressed than the moms who stuck with breastfeeding beyond that 6 month mark. Those who gave up breastfeeding before 6 months were also more likely to be smokers and to suffer from post-partum depression.
That said, the researchers stressed that breastfeeding remained “positively correlated” with good behavior and psychological well-being even after social, economic and life history factors had been accounted for.
The Reuters article says that for every month beyond the 6 month mark a child was breastfed, the benefit to their later behavior grew stronger. I’m guessing that at some point you hit diminishing returns on that one. At least, I’d like to believe I did the right thing weaning my five-year-old.
Photo: Angelus Works
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7 Comments
PlumbLucky commented on Jan 14 10 at 11:12 amInteresting.
I am really curious how one “corrects” (if that’s the right terminology even) for socio-economic-general life factors in a study like this.
Louise commented on Jan 14 10 at 1:01 pmPlumbLucky, I often have the same questions about studies like this. I think it really depends on the factor…certainly you can control for income, education level, mental health status of the mother, and all of those tangible things, and I think that’s what they’re suggesting here (e.g., that the effect was seen in groups with similar income, etc.). However, I also think there are intangible factors that are difficult-to-impossible to control for. For example, is it possible that those women that are able to continue breastfeeding past the six-month mark also tend to be those that have more “support” (family and/or friends nearby willing to help out, a partner willing to pick up the slack with housework, a job with a schedule flexible enough to allow for pumping, etc.)? If the answer is yes, it seems at least somewhat likely that these factors would also contribute positively to mental well-being. So are we looking at an effect of breastfeeding for more than six months, or an effect of conditions that lend themselves to the ability to breastfeed?
In short, I breastfed my sons and am currently breastfeeding my daughter…if their mental health outcomes are positive, will that be a result of my having breastfed, or a result of other aspects of my situation that also happen to make it (more) possible to do so?
Suzy commented on Jan 14 10 at 1:16 pmSorry to burst your bubble, but it’s the mother not the milk.
Louise commented on Jan 14 10 at 1:32 pmYeah, Suzy, if I had to bet, that’s kind of what I think, too.
Sarah commented on Jan 14 10 at 3:58 pmI agree with you too Suzy. I’m so sick of reading these studies. I say it’s time for people to mind their own boobs.
Jennifer commented on Jan 14 10 at 7:00 pmI agree with Suzy as well. And what exactly is the point anymore in studying whether breastmilk or formula makes a .0001% difference in a kid’s health, intelligence, good looks, Scrabble talent, or sexual prowess? Both breastmilk and formula are generally fine for kids, and kids will grow up and thrive and be happy on either as long as their parents aren’t reading every study and going absolutely bonkers trying to create an idealized childhood in order to maximize their kid’s chances for every kind of happiness in life.
Sajmom commented on Jan 15 10 at 3:17 pmThe study should be placed in context, ”
However, the claims made in relation to these findings do not account for the large differences in breastfeeding rates between countries, with some, including Norway, having 99 per cent of new mothers successfully breastfeeding.From this finding, the research team also extrapolated that high levels of testosterone before birth are also responsible for the differences in health outcomes between breast- and bottle-fed babies.
However, this claim does not account for the significantly better health outcomes found for babies who are exclusively, as opposed to partially, breastfed, and for babies who are breastfed for longer durations.”
For the full article, go here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2010/0115/1224262378597.html
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