The benefits of breastfeeding extend much longer than adolescence according to a new study, and extend long into adulthood. While not everyone is able to breastfeed, research shows its irreplaceable asset you can pass on to your children. The Guardian reports:
“Breastfed babies are more likely to turn into well-educated and higher-earning adults, according to a major long-term study.
Researchers in Brazil have followed nearly 6,000 babies from birth for the past three decades, enabling them for the first time to get an idea of the long-term effects of breastfeeding. Nearly 3,500 of them, now 30-year-old adults, accepted an invitation to be interviewed and sit IQ tests for the purpose of the study. Those who had been breastfed proved to be more intelligent, had spent longer at school and earned more than those who had not been. And the longer they were breastfed as a baby, the better they tended to be doing.
It is already known that breastfeeding can increase a child’s IQ by a small amount. The question that Dr Bernardo Lessa Horta from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil wanted to answer was whether this translated into greater intelligence and better prospects as an adult.”
Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com/ Artranq