According to a new report, women who were breastfed as babies tend to get pregnant later in life compared to those who were bottle-fed as infants.
If that’s true then my daughter shouldn’t expect to get pregnant until she’s in her forties. That kid nursed 24/7 for the first 18 months of her life. Give or take a few months.
By my calculations that means she won’t be procreating until she’s well past her teenage years. Then again, perhaps, I am reading too much into this new study.
The published report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that certain factors in early childhood affect when a woman is likely to get pregnant for the first time. The four factors that contribute to females getting pregnant earlier in life, according to the study, are:
1. Not being breastfed as a baby
2. Having uninvolved parents
3. Having an absentee father
4. Moving frequently during childhood
Researchers used data from the National Child Development Study, which features a group of individuals, who have been monitored by scientists, since they were between 3 and 9 years old.
After factoring in education and socioeconomic status, researchers claim that breastfed babies evolve into more secure adults, who can handle stress better than individuals, who were bottle-fed as infants.
The reason can be summed up in two words: Reproductive biology. Researchers maintain that early stress can negatively affect a girl’s reproductive biology and in some cases trigger early puberty.
I should note that each of the four contributing factors impacts a girl equally, so whether you move 17 times when your child is a baby, or you choose not to breastfeed your infant, researchers say the overall stress your child experiences is the same.
Of course, this is all relative, given that individual situations vary dramatically between families. What’s more, if you dig deeper than a controlled study you will find other related variables contribute to the big picture, especially when you are dealing with the issue of teen pregnancy.
If you are worried that weaning your tot is going to increase her stress level and make her more susceptible to early pregnancy, think again. And while you’re at it, don’t put the brakes on your upcoming move either.
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