Breastfed babies are better behaved says study

[crikeybadger]

Link here if you are interested.

Interesting study but I was a bit about the clingy bit. DD was breastfed for a year and she's the clingiest child I've ever come across in my life!

I can only speak from experience, but I have two FF DDs aged 13 months and 5 years. Both are well behaved. People always comment on it. I put it down to their routines which have always been quite tight. They don't get the chance to become overtired (much) and imo that keeps them happy!

Hopper - this is a drawback of big cohort studies. There were (IIRC) more than 9000 children in this study, so they cannot do the detailed objective observations on them and they have to rely on the reports from parents. I have not seen the questionnaires given to the parents in this study but usually they have to be pretty carefully written to get the necessary consistency . Nevertheless, you are right that parents' reports cannot always be checked - you just hope with the huge numbers involved any inconsistency is equally distributed, IYKNWIM.

fair point ElsieR
going to pay more attention to my child now as he just slip over and banged his face whislt i was on here ooops bad mother
Can't wait to see how this debate develops

I wonder if a lot of this effect is down to maternal attitude, rather than socio-economic background.

For example mothers who are willing and able to put a lot of time and effort into breastfeeding may also be willing and able to put time and effort into behaviour management. They might be more likely to read books, go to parenting classes, give their children a great diet, eat well in pregnancy etc.

I'm talking in general terms here - not all breastfeeders do this and all formula feeders don't. I'm breastfeeding but am a fairly slack parent, have never taken a vitamin tablet and drank all through my pregnancy.

Agree with bumble34. I read an article a few months ago about the overuse of paracetamol in young children. Made me feel anxious while reading it as DD found teething very painful (got her first at 4 months) and since teething powders, gels did not work for her in the slightest we had to regularly resort to Calpol. The article talked of links with asthma, etc. for very young children that had been given this type of medication.

Doesn't make me think that the results of this type of research shouldn' t be carried out or publicised though just because it made uncomfortable reading for me.

The trouble is we all feel enough maternal guilt already. And this is another stick to beat us with. Though I take on board tiktoks points re public health.

If you bf surely you know instinctively how good it is for your child. You dont need a survey to tell you. If you didn't bf you don't need a survey to make you feel guilty.

Iread the artical on BBC news site. I think its a start but i dont think it can be conculive as there are more factors than they analysed.

I also think that any reserch into breastfeeding is a good starting point.

I disagree that most women who breastfeed are more intelegent or higher class. I know lots of working class mothers who breastfeed, Also a lot of young mothers breastfeed too.

I would like to see more resurch into what breastmilk contains.

Have to say that I find it irritating the number of voices on this thread who object to this study (being done? published? reported?) on the grounds that it 'just makes mums feel guilty'.

How can it be that a large study into an important aspect of child health and development has its value assessed primarily on the grounds of how its findings make adults feel?

Seriously - can we not for one minute talk about this subject without putting adults feelings and interests at the CENTRE of the discussion?

"I disagree that most women who breastfeed are more intelegent or higher class."

But this is what the research - very clearly - finds. It's not a matter of opinion. It's a fact.

Re the comment about parents' observations not being as reliable as an objective assessment: this study used the well-known Strengths and Difficulties questionnnaire which has been validated as a tool and which has been used in many studies to get a consistent measure of behaviours seen by parents, so I think this should add weight to the study's findings.

Rita - this is a good point ie a certain 'type' of parent may be more likely to bf and have a different approach to behaviours. And it's this, not the feeding, that affects outcomes. This could be checked in smaller studies, I think.

You'd also have to rule out the possibility that breastfeeding 'teaches' parents a different approach! That is, you might start out with one idea, and find you change the longer you breastfeed. For example, you might begin as a routine-oriented parent with firm ideas on sleeping times and so on. You then find this does not work well with breastfeeding and you become less firm....and this affects other areas of your parenting, so you become more responsive and flexible, and this produces a child with fewer anxieties and stressors.

All this is speculative and may be rubbish - but it is a valid area of questioning!

"If you didn't bf you don't need a survey to make you feel guilty."

Are you arguing that this study (and any others which may find differences in health outcomes between bf and ff babies) is worthless because it's of no value to mothers?

Is that a good reason to do or not do research into health issues?

This study - and many like them - don't make me feel guilty for FF my DS.

However. I still find studies like these raise more questions than they answer, though. As far as I can tell (and I can't see the full text article - just going on the author's own press release on the oxford uni website) they didn't take account of things like parenting styles, attitudes to child-rearing, presence or absence of postnatal depression in mother, state of parents' relationship etc. I think it would help if largely quantitive studies like this were accompanied by some qualitative in-depth research to elicit more information on these and other complicating factors.

Threads like this confirm everything I've always felt about us not being a child-centred society.

Can't believe people are objecting to it having been done or reported because it makes them feel bad.

What does that actually mean: "The mothers were asked to assess problems in their children by the age of five, including anxiousness and clinginess, restlessness, and lying or stealing."

Assess?

spudulika totally agree it's ridiculous to protest about the study being done because it makes some people feel bad.

the abstract is here for anyone who's interested - can't access the full article unfortunately, work doesn't subscribe to this journal!

it looks from the abstract, like they have found no difference between any and exclusive bfing, but differences between any/exclusive bfing and ffing.

'The associations between exclusive breast feeding and abnormal SDQ scores were similar to those of any breast feeding and abnormal SDQ scores.'

God, I live in hope that ds2 (bf) is better behaved than ds1(ff)!

Those with the guilt - let it go. No need for it. And don't let it get in the way of the reporting of data. I had a lot of guilt about ds1, but it was entirely from me, not the meeja, not my family or friends.

I don't object to it having been done. It is a totally valid survey. On an entirely personal level though, I just find it a bit crushing to wake up to hear about yet another survey telling me that a decision that I have already made for what were at the time really good reasons has possibly affected my child's whole life, regardless of how great a mother I am in other ways. It's like doing a whole marathon only to find at the end you'd been disqualified at the start!

I am not objecting to the survey being done or being reported, I am objecting to how it is reported in the media- perhaps I should have made that more explicit.

I think you are twisting my words for your bee in your bonnet about this being a non child-centered society. I am just attempting sympathy and empathy with other mothers.

I think the survey is great but I don't think it particularly helps with the root causes behind reasons women breastfeed or don't breastfeed. It isn't the child that decides after all.

It is like the smoking argument. Smoking causes cancer, it literally kills you. Oh OK i won't smoke then.

Clearly they never met my DS (bf for 2.7y!!).

I am at people objecting to this kind of survey. It is not there to make you feel crap, it is there so people can make informed choices, ffs.

I thought the same thing as Beveridge, I suffered badly from migraines when I was pg with DS and took paracetamol, and yes that study on paracetamol in pregnancy did worry me but it doesn't mean I don't think it should have been done. I have just been much more careful of my paracetamol intake in this pregnancy.

I am sure there are many many smokers who may have preferred no-one do any research on the effects of smoking on health!

I think it is perhaps more likely that more intelligent/educated women will breastfeed but I think it depends more on whether her family and peers are also breastfeeding. There are a lot of other factors which come into play when assessing how likely someone is to breastfeed.

It's a very naughty survey and needs to go and sit on the Naughty Step.

How dare it discover findings that upset individuals!

Hully