Children who are breastfed are less likely to develop neurological conditions, including autism, a new study found.

[EddyF]

Researchers studied 570,000 infants, about half of which were breastfed for at least six months.

They found exclusively breastfed babies were 28 percent less likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental condition (NDC), such as autism, ADHD and cerebral palsy.

Breastfed babies were also 18 percent less likely to have delays in language and social milestones compared to babies who were breastfed for less than six months.

Babies who were partially breastfed - possibly supplemented with formula - were 14 percent less likely to have delays.

The reduced risk even persisted among siblings, who would most likely have similar genetic risks if they have the same parents. Those who were breastfed for at least six months were nine percent less likely to have milestone delays.

Article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14531215/amp/Parenting-choice-slashes-childrens-autism-risk.html

The site has many and various boards so that people with specific questions or interests can find them easily, and people who don't wish to see certain topics can avoid them easily.

But sure you just post whatever you feel like wherever you want to. Maybe have a look at the current thread on how inconsiderate people have become lately, while you're in AIBU.

It's just correlation. Quite obviously.

So I do hope nobody feels guilty reading this clickbait bollocks.

You sound like the health visitor. I had to remind her that when I was in hospital I asked for help breastfeeding and the lovely midwife said ‘can’t you see I’m busy and walked off’ so i didn’t want to hear her sanctimonious bulls*it

anyway, my bottle fed child seems fine thanks

I imagine that babies who have disabilities from birth (CP can be caused by brain injury close to or after birth) are more likely to struggle to bf.

I meant to say at the end that those parts of the brain couldn't be revived by breastfeeding.

I remember the shock of nearly losing my baby during a traumatic birth nearly 10 years ago. A much wanted baby conceived through ivf. He was born 4 weeks early. I tried so hard for the first few months of his life to establish BF. Pumping milk around the clock. It didn’t work out. I already felt inadequate because it took me so long to get pregnant with him in the first place and then I nearly lost him. I was bombarded with unwanted useful advice on the benefits of breastfeeding from busy bodies who had absolutely no idea what I had gone through to try and BF him. It still makes me angry today.

Too often there’s the assumption that bottle feeding mums are just lazy, can’t be bothered, or aren’t well educated enough to appreciate the benefits of BF. The people making those judgements have no idea what those bottle feeding mums might have already gone through before finally giving up.

I didn’t enjoy the first months of his life because of it.

What a great way to make mums feel shit about themselves. I have two autistic children, one was breastfed the other wasn't and nor was NT DD.
My youngest didn't actually feed at all as a baby and wound up in hospital so was FF fed. What else was I supposed to do?

Have reported.

This place is an absolute fucking cesspit sometimes.

The whole study is available to read Breastfeeding Duration and Child Development | Breastfeeding | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network Hope the link works. It does seem to show an association, but makes no claims as to causation. I do wonder how much of a confounder it is that babies with significant medical conditions may find it harder to establish and maintain breastfeeding.

The hierarchy of evidence says you cannot determine cause and effect from this type of study. You can mearly make assumptions.

Well I must have done BF wrong then!

🤗Great post! The anti formula brigade, are as bad as the c-section brigade.

'oh a c section isn't a real birth.' 🙄

Last time I checked, my 2 DC had been BORN.

(nb; I breastfed them but only for 4-5 months... That was fine. Anyone who tells me different can get tae fuck!)

I also think formula is OK!

It must be right. I bf our 2. One for 6 months and the other for 12. Both are NT so it absolutely must be right 🙄🤣

Breast fed for a year and a half. ADHD, ASD.
Breast fed for 6 months. ADHD.

It's the whole 'boys are only high energy because we socialise them that way' argument again.

It's genetics.

I also had the “c-section isn’t really giving birth” along with all the guilt tripping for not being able to BF my baby.

Not read the link because it's the Daily Fail, but could it be that neurodivergent mothers are more likely to breastfeed or fill out a survey about breastfeeding and therefore genetics make them more likely to pass on their traits?

If you want to start another bloody breastfeeding fight at least have the grace to read the original article rather than the Daily Heil’s dumbed down to fucking dog whistling nonsense. Well done for taking the bait, OP.

Well I disagree, I see the opposite to be honest. Several friends breast fed their children and they are the ones saying their kids are on the spectrum/have ADHD 🤷‍♀️

They also don't seem to control for Apgar scores, even though a low Apgar at 5 minutes increases the likelihood of less good neurological outcome (including difficulty establishing feeding).

How can you breastfeed exclusively for 2 years. They should start eating solids at 6 months so then they'll be mixed feeding.

I mean some of those conditions could affect movement and therefore the ability to latch and bf.

whats the saying ‘correlation does not prove causation’ or some such.

Fucks sake, my family must be the biggest anomaly of all time!

Breastfed all three until they were around 3 years old. 2 with autism and adhd and one with dyslexia and adhd.

Absolute nonsense..my 2 autistic sons were breastfed a lot longer than my nt daughter..my more severely autistic son was breastfeeding till he was 4!

I think breast feeding has many benefits but not convinced that is one of them.

I have 3 autistic DC and all breastfed. I mean, I think you're autistic or you're not, I don't think BF has anything to do with it.