International symbol for breastfeeding, Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Today we’d like to announce the publication of Mohsin Shah’s report from his elective studying haematology at the Paul O’Gorman Leukemia Research Centre in Glasgow. Read it here.

In today’s blog TLS Blogger Pranab Chatterjee discusses the evidence linking longer periods of breastfeeding with better mental health of children.

The study found that children who were breastfed for less than six months compared to six months or longer had a 52% increased risk of a mental health problem at 2 years of age, a 55% increased risk at age 6, at age 8 the increased risk was 61% while at age 10 the increased risk was 37%.

According to the results of a new study (1), longer periods of breast feeding may be associated with better outcomes for mental health for the children in the longer run. The study recruited 2900 pregnant women and followed the live births for 14 years. Mental health status was assessed at 2, 6, 8, 10, and 14 years. Maternal pregnancy, postnatal, and infant factors were tested to examine the effects of breastfeeding duration on mental health morbidity. It was seen that there was an increase in the behavioral problems with a shorter period of breast feeding. An older study (2) had also previously reached a similar conclusion in a smaller cohort, stating that longer periods of breast feeding confer significant benefit to later cognitive development. The present study provides some interesting data (3):

The study found that children who were breastfed for less than six months compared to six months or longer had a 52% increased risk of a mental health problem at 2 years of age, a 55% increased risk at age 6, at age 8 the increased risk was 61% while at age 10 the increased risk was 37%.

Although this provides compelling evidence in favor of the fact that breast feeding does augment  mental health, there have been some antagonistic results as well. In a study published in the Archive of Disease in Childhood (4), it has been shown that after adjusting for confounding factors, there is no significant difference at 4 years age. It also looked at the issue of fortifying milk with DHA (docosahexanoic acid) and did not find any evidence to support the same.

However, the study by Oddy et al has a larger study population and a longer and more frequent follow up, which favors the production of better evidence. But at the same time it must be said that these results are mostly applicable in cases of population-based analyses rather than individual instances. So, although it shows that there are favorable results with respect to mental health in infants nursed for a longer period, the present study cannot quantify a risk assessment or prediction for those who are breast fed for a shorter duration on an individual basis.

Considering the numerous benefits that breastfeeding confers on both the mother and the child, its role in proper child care remains undebated. The fact that the present study advocates a longer period of breastfeeding may have some additional benefits as well. First, if the mental health is indeed benefited, then it is a huge step towards primordial prevention of a silent epidemic waiting to explode. Second, the resultant lactational amenorrhea may act as an effective family planning tool in sensitive areas like South-East Asia and Africa where contraception coverage is poor in many parts due to socio-economic conditions.

Wrapping it up, we can still say, “Breast is the best” to all the new and expectant mothers and give them one more reason to support this!

References:

1. Wendy H. Oddy, Garth E. Kendall, Jianghong Li, et al. The Long-Term Effects of Breastfeeding on Child and Adolescent Mental Health: A Pregnancy Cohort Study Followed for 14 Years. The Journal of pediatrics 14 December 2009 (Article in Press DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.10.020)

2. Quinn PJ, O’Callaghan M, et al. The effect of breastfeeding on child development at 5 years: A cohort study. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health; 2001; 37: 5: 465-9 (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120716858/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0)

3. Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061027184200.htm Accessed on January 23rd, 2010.

4. Archives of Diseases in Childhood, BMJ group: http://adc.bmj.com/site/misc/Breastfeeding_the_use_of_docosahexaenoic.pdf Accessed: January 23rd 2010

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:00 am and is filed under Blog, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.