Feeding a baby withBreast milk stimulates the ability to move up the social ladder and decreases the chances of it moving down socially, according to a study published in the journalArchives of Disease in Childhood. The authors attribute it to the fact that breastfeeding improves brain development, increasing intellect, in addition to reducing stress.
The findings are based on changes in the social class of the two groups of people born in 1958 (17,419 people) and in 1970 (16,771 people). The researchers asked the children’s mothers, when they were between 5 and 7 years old, if they had breastfed them, and then compared the social class of the children when they were between 10 and 11 years old with their social class in adulthood , around 33 or 34 years old. Social class was rated on a four-point scale, from unskilled / manual to semi-skilled professional / business.
The analyzes showed that children who had been breastfed were much more likely to have moved up the social ladder than those who had not been breastfed. The call“lactation” effecthas proven to bea practice that increases the chances of upward mobility by 24 percentand it reduces the odds of downward mobility by 20 percent for both groups.
Evidence suggests that breastfeeding brings a wide range of long-term health benefits, and that the benefits persist into adulthood, say the authors. Of course, the researchers point out that eIt is difficult to determine precisely what is of greatest benefit to the child: nutrients found in breast milk or skin-to-skin contact during breastfeeding. “Perhaps the combination of physical contact and the most appropriate nutrients necessary for brain growth and development is implicated in neurocognitive improvement and adult outcomes in breastfed children,” they conclude.
