Breastfeeding Is Best For School And College Results

breastfeedingA new US study breathes light into the commonly followed line of reasoning that concludes breastfed babies do better in life than those that are bottle fed.

According to the study, breastfed babies are more likely to experience academic success in high school and attend college after graduation versus their bottle fed counterparts.

The survey was conducted by American University professor Joseph Sabia and University of Colorado professor Daniel Rees and studied 59 families containing a total of 126 children who were sibling pairs of a breastfed infant versus a bottle fed infant.

Siblings were used as the control factor to discount additional variables that otherwise may have come into pay such as environment, heredity, and socioeconomic factors.

Sabia stated that the findings of the study which was published in the Journal of Human Capital show that breastfed children have better health and cognitive skills which leads to more opportunities in higher education later in life.

Actual figures from the study report show that for each additional month of breastfeeding the average grade point average in high school grew by .019 points and chances of attending college later in life grew by .014 points.

According to Sabia, the study is the first of its kind that used sibling data to compare the effects of breastfeeding versus bottle feeding in determining high school achievement and the probability of college attendance.

Rees commented that the sibling factor allowed for them to toss out socioeconomic differences which commonly are used to explain the effects of breastfeeding versus bottle feeding. Thus, for the first time, the results can be considered without other contaminating considerations.

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