By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) — Children who were breastfed do better in high school and are more likely to go to college than their bottle-fed siblings, researchers report.
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While the health benefits of breastfeeding to both infants and mothers is well known, this study suggests the practice may have educational benefits as well. This is the first study using data on siblings to examine the effect of breastfeeding on high school completion and college attendance, the researchers noted.
“We compare sibling pairs — one of whom was breastfed and one of whom was not, or siblings who were breastfed for different durations — and find consistent evidence that breastfed children have higher high school grade point averages and a higher probability of attending college,” said study co-author Joseph Sabia, an assistant professor of public policy at American University in Washington, D.C.
Since their sample contained a variety of adolescents, the researchers ruled out factors such as socioeconomic status in the connection between breastfeeding and educational achievement, Sabia said.
The report is published in the June 11 issue of the Journal of Human Capital.
For the report, Sabia and his colleague Daniel Rees, a professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver, used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They looked at the breastfeeding histories of 126 siblings from 59 families; high school graduation and college attendance data was obtained for 191 siblings from 90 families.
“If you’re breastfed, your high school GPA goes up substantially, and the likelihood that you go on to college goes up,” Rees said.
For every month you are breastfed, your high school GPA goes up about 1% and your probability of going to college goes up about 2%, Rees added.
“We found that more than one-half of the estimated effect of being breastfed on high school grades can be linked to improvements in cognitive ability and health,” Sabia said. “Thus, we conclude that improvements in cognitive ability and adolescent health may be important pathways through which breastfeeding affects long-term academic achievement,” he said.
About one-fifth of the increased likelihood of going to college appears to be due to breastfeeding, Rees added.
“This is another benefit of breastfeeding,” Rees said. “We know that breastfeeding leads to better health, higher IQ, but the next step is what are the implications, and this is an important implication,” he said.
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said this study may not prove a connection between school performance and breastfeeding, but it could be another reason to breastfeed your baby.
“An array of health benefits is convincingly associated with breastfeeding, including a reduced risk of both infections and obesity in the breastfed child,” Katz said. “Less certain, but long suggested, is enhanced cognitive development in breastfed children as well.”
It could be that factors that determine whether or not a baby is breastfed are an important piece of the puzzle, Katz noted. “Why a baby is fed one way or another may matter as much as which way a baby is fed,” he said. “A study of association such as this cannot fully resolve that issue.”
SOURCES: Joseph Sabia, Ph.D., assistant professor, public policy, American University, Washington, D.C.; Daniel Rees, Ph.D., professor, economics, University of Colorado Denver; David L. Katz, M.D., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; June 11, 2009, Journal of Human Capital
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Aku terjupa article ni time godeh2 website.. mula nak cari isu lain, terjumpa isu ni..
Hmm So for those yang masih tegar mem FM anak mereka, renung-renungkanlah.
But kepada mereka yang BF tapi anak kurang pandai, BF bukan puncanya.. Mungkin kalau kita bagi anak kita FM (yang kononnya memberi daya tumpuan yang lebih, otak yang tajam), mungkin anakk ita menjadi semakin tak pandai..
Salam Puan, sy tergolong dalam kategori yang excited utk brestfeed anak jd untuk anak sulung sy sebelum kelahirannya sy telah membeli breastpum, cooler bag, techni ice, buku panduan menyusu, liner dll..tapi malangnya apa yang sy impikan tidak seperti yang sy hadapi..production susu sy mmg termat sedikit, sy telah berusaha mengurut sampai 5-6 kali, pumping sampai naik lenguh tangan, telah pil Asi, habbatussauda’, makan sayur2an yg boleh membanyakkan susu..bak kata apa saja yg baca dan tahu boleh membanyakkan air susu sy cuba termasuklah menelan lobak putih yg serba pahit & pelik rasanya..
Namun apakan daya, sehingga kini susu sy masih teramat sedikit, sy gambarkan seperti air paip yang meleleh jika tak ketatkan kepala paip..sedihnya saya kerana saya tidak bertuah seperti ibu2 pain dan puan yg mempunyai dan berupaya menyusu secara eklusif..saya terpaksa memberi FM biarpun saya tidaklah berapa suka dgn keadaan sprt ini memandangkan susu ibu mempunyai kelebihan dan khasiat ayng mencukupi tak setanding ngan susu komersila yang diiklankan..
oleh itu, jika saya membaca ulasan2 ibu yang berjaya menyusukan anaknya secara eklusif dan bercakap mengenai kelebihan anak masing2 disebabkan BF saya seoalh2 seperti diperli dan direndah2kan oleh kaum ibu sendiri kerana sy tidak mempu berbuat seperti mereka..apakah anak sy ini akan jadi lebih bodoh dr mereka yang menyusu secara direct..tidak ada ibu didunia yang suka anaknya menjadi bodoh..sy ingin sgt2 menyusukan anak sy secara eksklusif tetapi tidak mampu berbuat demikian,…fikir2kanlah kadang2 dalam kita gairah bercakap mengenai sesuatu ada yang terluka atau terkilan disebabkannya..sy harap ibu2 yang berjaya BF anak2 mereka tidak terlalu gairah dalam membanding2kan kelebihan mereka dengan kami kaum ibu yang tidak dikurniakan kelebihan tersebut..wallahu’alam..
Saya paham apa yang ina_rahayu rasa. Sebenarnya sbg ibu yang dimurahkan rezeki dengan susu badan tiada sebab untuk saya memandang serong kepada ibu yang memberi anaknya susu formula. Luahan hati saya ini pernah saya suarakan di susuibu.com dan saya tahu ramai antara ibu-ibu mungkin tidak suka dengan statement saya. Saya menyokong susu ibu tetapi pada masa yang sama saya tidak pernah menolak susu formula dan saya tidak pernah membandingkan mana bijak mana pandai antara anak2 saya yang minum formula dan susu badan. Apa yang penting ialah didikan daripada kita sbg ibubapa dan juga doa kita, insyaallah. Jika kita dikurniakan susu badan yang banyak sepatutnya kita bersyukur dan jgn riak dengan kelebihan yang ada mana tahu satu hari nanti Allah akan tarik balik kelebihan itu daripada kita.
Ina Rahayu & Azrina,
Sorry bout putting up this articles..
Takde niat pun nak downgrade ibu2 yang tak BF ni.. But it is proven already..
Pada Ina Rahayu, awak dah cuba kan, tapi tak dapat.. Itu bukan salah awak..
Cuma kadang tu terkilan dengan ibu2 yang simply terus bagi fm kat anak tanpa mencuba ataupun alasan klise “MALAS, LECEH etc” Itu memang tak dapat dimaafkan..
But untuk certain kes mcm Ina, dikira exceptional.. sebabnya niat tu ada, mungkin tak dipermudahkan macam ibu2 lain..
Saya sendiri pun terpaksa bagi FM kat anak bila saya start pregnant lagi.. itupun saya dah rasa frust amat sgt.. rasa macam saya ni ibu yg kejam tak dapat nak BF sampai anak 2 thn..
Whatever, kalau kita dah usaha, itu dah dikira sebagai ibadat.. try, ty and try.. kalau dah tak boleh, yet baru surrender bagi FM..
So Ina dan Azrina,
Jangan kecik hati tau.. You all did your best…