Babies breastfed for six months would be less exposed to behavioral disorders at 7-11 years, according to a study.
Breast milk has quite unexpected virtues. It would have a protective effect against ear infections, childhood leukemia, certain intestinal diseases. For the mother, breastfeeding would delay the onset of breast cancer and would even help reduce her smoking!
Work carried out in South Africa and published in the journal Plos Medicine unearth another benefit associated with breastfeeding. Over 1,500 healthy children of primary school age participated in the study. Among them, 900 had been breastfed and the others, fed on industrial milk from the second month.
Multifactors
Result: Newborns breastfed during the first six months of their life (the length of time recommended by pediatricians) were 56% less likely to present behavioral problems at 7-11 years, compared to other children.
“The duration of exclusive breastfeeding of a newborn is much more important than previously thought for many aspects of child development,” commented the authors of this work funded by the Canadian government.
Of course, no causal link is demonstrated in this study; it is only an association between behavioral problems in the child and breastfeeding the baby, but it is not the first time that science has established such a link.
The explanation is multifactorial. The study also shows that children who go to a nursery for at least a year have 74% more chances of developing favorably on the behavioral and cognitive level. Those who benefit from stimulation at home (games, interactions …) have a 36% chance of having better brain function.
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