A long term study performed in the UK showed that kids who have been breastfed are less anxious later on in life when they go through a stressful or traumatic experience, such as the divorce of their parents.
In fact, it doesn’t seem to matter how long the child was breastfed for the results to show. The researchers do note that they are not 100% sure whether breast feeding is the sole reason these children are more stress resistant, there may be other advantages to breast feeding that allow them to deal with stress better.
Photography by Pat Winberg
Although researches do not know how to explain this pattern, it is one more reason to choose breast feeding as an option! This study showed that the amount of time you breastfeed does not really change the eventual outcome. So basically that means that all little bits help; if you can only breastfeed for a limited period of time, for whatever reason, then that is still better than not breastfeeding at all!
Aside from helping combat anxiety later on in life, children who are breastfed are also automatically given the mother’s antibodies, which boost the child’s immune system. It also gives mother and child a good way to bond. However, some women cannot breastfeed for a variety of medical reasons. In this case bonding is still important. Because researchers are not sure what it is about breastfeeding that helps children cope better with stress later, you should still hold your child close to you and still as if you were breast feeding. Although parents pick up their children multiple times a day, and you probably spend a lot of time with your little one, there is something that sets breast feeding time apart from all others: quiet time. When you are not playing with your little one, but just holding him (or her) close to you, it gives your baby the opportunity of feeling you breathe, your heartbeat, and just feel safe. Even if a woman cannot breast feed this should still be an important bonding ritual.