Breastfeeding Good for Kids’ Mental Health
A new Australian study suggests that babies that are breastfed for longer than six months could be at lower risk for mental health problems later in life.
Researchers found that children who were breastfed for less than six months had a 52% increased risk of a mental health problem at 2 years of age, a 55% increased risk at age 6, a 61% increased risk at age 8, and a 37% increased risk at age 10.
The findings are based on data from 2,366 Australian children over the past 16 years.
“Breastfeeding for a longer duration appears to have significant benefits for the onward mental health of the child into adolescence,” reported Dr. Wendy H. Oddy of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.
“Even when we adjust the results to take into account other factors such as the parents’ socio-economic situation, their education, their happiness and family functioning, we see that children that were breastfed for at least six months are at lower risk of mental health problems,” Dr. Oddy said.
Dr. Oddy said that children that were breastfed had particularly lower rates of delinquent, aggressive and anti-social behaviour, and overall were less depressed, anxious or withdrawn.
“These results are powerful evidence for more support to be given to mothers to help them breastfeed for longer,” she said.
