A baby's breastfeeding time can affect his results in subsequent tests - research - voila! health

2023-06-07T05:01:24.617Z

Highlights: A new study found that breastfeeding may have a beneficial effect on various test scores in adulthood. Researchers followed some 5,000 British children from infancy in the early 2000s to their senior year of high school. Compared to those who had never breastfed, children breastfed for at least 12 months were 39 percent more likely to perform well on both math and language tests. The researchers did try to control for many factors that might influence their outcomes, but they couldn't explain everything in an observational study.

A new study has found that breastfeeding may have a beneficial effect on various test scores in adulthood. But there is quite one asterisk

Breastfeeding mom (Photo: ShutterStock)

Can breastfeeding and breastfeeding time affect math and language test scores at an older age? According to a new study, the answer is yes.

A report, published Monday in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, followed some 5,000 British children from infancy in the early 2000s to their senior year of high school. The children were divided into groups according to the length of time they breastfed: not at all, a few months or for a year or more. The researchers then compared children's scores on the UK's General Certificate of Education exams in the final years of secondary school. What the research team found was that there was a moderate improvement in test scores associated with longer breastfeeding, said lead study author Dr. Renee Pereira-Elias, a doctoral student. Researcher at the National Unit of Perinatal Epidemiology at the University of Oxford.

Compared to those who had never breastfed, children breastfed for at least 12 months were 39 percent more likely to perform well on both math and language tests—in this case English—and 25 percent less likely to fail an English test.

"But that doesn't mean every mother has to breastfeed her child," Pereira-Elias clarified.

Breastfeeding mom (Photo: ShutterStock)

The relationship between breastfeeding and test scores

In the UK, mothers of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to breastfeed their children, and their children are more likely to do well in school. That doesn't mean breastfeeding is what makes kids do well in school — obviously it could be another aspect of their family doing relatively well," Dr. Kevin McConway, professor emeritus of applied statistics at the Open University of England, told CNN. "It could be that something about breastfeeding makes children more likely to do well on their exams, but it could also be that another independent factor also affects the chances that the child will breastfeed and do well on tests."

The researchers did try to control for many factors that might influence their outcomes, such as a mother's cognitive ability, but they couldn't explain everything in an observational study, Pereira-Elias said. "There may be some confounding factors," she said. "We did the best we could."

The difference this study showed was modest, Pereira-Elias added, meaning there isn't a big enough difference in test scores to make parents worried. "The assumption is that families in general should be encouraged to breastfeed because of a number of possible benefits, but that still doesn't mean it's the best outcome for every family,"

she said, adding that more research is needed to confirm the findings — especially those that explain the variations between families. "Although these questions have been around for almost a century, we still don't have a definitive answer," she said.