#Socialites, do you believe this or is it cap?! A recent study is suggesting that children who were breastfed for over a year tend to have higher test scores as adolescents than those who were breastfed less, or not at all.
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Study Suggests Children Who Are Breastfed Over A Year Tend To Have Higher Test Scores
On Monday (June 5), a report was published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. In the report, there were about 5,000 British children studied from their infancy in the early 2000s (between 2000 and 2002 to be exact) to their last year of high school. Leading the study as an author is Dr. Reneé Pereyra-Elías, who is a doctoral student and researcher in the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.
Additional authors listed are Claire Carson and Maria A. Quigley.
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In the study, the 5,000 children from Britain were divided into groups, based upon how long their mothers breastfed them. The categories were listed as: not at all, a few months, or for a year or more.
Once researchers divvied up the children based upon their mothers’ breastfeeding habits, they went on to compare how well the students performed in the British General Certificate of Secondary Education testing, which happened during their final years of secondary school.
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The results that the researchers came across proved that there was a “modest improvement” in test scores from the students (all around the age 16) who had been breastfed longer than others in the study.
Dr. Pereyra-Elías added that children who were breastfed for at least one year were between 38% to 39% more likely to have a score higher in both math and English GCSE exams; and they were 25% less likely to fail their English exams; however, they were not less likely to fail their math GCSEs.
Again, this is all compared to the children who had never drank milk directly from their mother’s breasts, or who fed on her for less than a year.
It was also noted in the study that the children with the higher test scores were more likely to have older and more educated mothers. However, they were less likely to have moms who identified as white, and who only spoke English in their homes.
Dr. Pereyra-Elías also added a disclaimer and warned other mothers who cannot breastfeed that they should not feel shame or guilt in what her research’s results have proven to find. The researcher said that it would be quite “unrealistic” to expect that every single mother could breastfeed their child.
He also added that along with not needing to feel ashamed or guilty, they shouldn’t think that not being able to breastfeed their child puts them at a disadvantage.
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!
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