Breastfeeding Helps Children Up Social Ladder

A long term study conducted by the University of Bristol in the UK found that children who were breastfed were 41% more likely to move up in social class as adults than those who were formula fed.

The study looked at 1,400 babies born from 1937-1939 and followed their progress for 60 years. Those studied had all originally taken part in the Boyd Orr Study of Diet and Health in Pre-War Britain carried out in 1937-1939.

Experts said that this study substantiated the theory that breastfeeding led to better long-term outcomes for children. Though the study found no difference in IQ levels when household income or social class was taken into account, it was found that breastfed children had a 58% chance of moving up the social ladder. When taken with other factors this shown a 41% difference from those who were formula fed.

Results also found that the longer a child was breastfed the greater the chance of rise in social status. Though it was found that ever having been breastfed at all was associated with a positive increase in social status later in life. When looking at families where one child was breastfed and another was formula fed the study found that the breastfed child was 16% more likely to move up in social status than the sibling.

The prevalence of breastfeeding in the 1920s and 1930s varied from 45% to 85%, and did not change based on household income, amount spend on food, number of brothers and sisters, order of birth, or social class in childhood. Though there may have been more prevalence in higher income families to use formula because of their ability to pay for the formula and to afford nannies and other care givers. Today breastfeeding is more common among middle class families.

Dr Richard Martin, who led the research, said "The question is whether that's an effect of the breastfeeding - something to do with the biological process which has an effect on brain development, or about the activity itself - such as improved bonding with mother, or that people who were breastfed were raised in a better social environment."

The findings of this study warrant further investigation before any solid conclusions can be drawn. Dr Mary Fewtrell, a child nutrition expert at the Institute of Child Health, said "The upward social mobility could be due to an effect of breastfeeding on any of these outcomes - that is, breastfeeding could enable an individual to increase his or her social class by increasing adult height, improving general health or directly increasing IQ and attainment."