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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Those warm cuddles that just naturally go with breastfeeding may be providing more than a comfy, cozy way for babies to get good nutrition.
They may also be helping the child develop coping mechanisms he can use later in life to deal with the anxiety-ridden situations we all face as we grow up.
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That's the key finding from British researchers who studied the link between breastfeeding and anxiety in about 9,000 children. All of the kids were first studied as infants and then followed to age 10. At that point, researchers asked their parents about major family disruptions that could lead to anxiety. The kids' teachers were asked to rank the kids according to their levels of stress and anxiety.
Children from families where the parents had separated or divorced showed understandably higher levels of stress and anxiety. But when the researchers looked at how the kids were fed as infants -- breast or bottle -- they found significantly less anxiety among the breastfed kids. While breastfed kids were almost twice as likely to suffer from anxiety if they came from broken homes, bottlefed kids were nine-times more likely.
The investigators believe breastfeeding may simply promote closer bonds between mother and child that persist into childhood, making these children more resilient to the situations in their lives (like divorce) that create anxiety.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, published online Aug. 2, 2006
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