Breastfeeding Tied to Better Development

A study from Greece has shown that children who were breastfed for more than six months revealed higher scores on cognitive, language and motor development tests in their toddler stage, according to Reuters. 

Read to find out more.     

It has been revealed by previous research that breastfeeding has benefits in regards to better thinking and memory but this study is the first to tie breastfeeding to the influence on language, movement, and coordination in a clearer way. 

The study shows a strong association between breastfeeding and these skills, rather than claiming breastfeeding is responsible for them.  

Dr. Leda Chatzi, University of Crete, and her team, used data from a long-term study of 540 mothers and their children. When teh babies were nine months old the researchers asked the mothers questions about their breastfeeding duration. In addition, psychologists tested the children for the related skills when they were eighteen months old.   

Dr. Christakis (not part of the study), who is a professor at the University of Washington and director of the Centre for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Research Institute, states, "I think that the evidence is now of sufficient quality that we can close the book on these benefits and focus instead on how do we succeed in promoting breast-feeding because all of the studies, including this one, that have looked at it have found a linear relationship, which is to say that the benefits accrue with each additional month that a child is breastfed."

So, it is time we focus more on promoting the practice of breastfeeding for all the previously known and the new benefits research is revealing.  

Source:
Reuters: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/25/us-breast-feeding-idINBRE9BO08920131225

Image:
http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/breastfeeding-importance.htm