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| (Photo by Summer) |
- anger,
- irritability,
- hostility,
- cynicism, and
- paranoia
This longitudinal study, which took place for 24 years, involved nearly 2,000 people. It was authored by researchers from the University of Helsinki and University of Turku in Finland. The article titled "Breastfeeding and Offspring Hostility in Adulthood" was published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics on September 28, 2011.
The researchers proposed that the warm attachment that the child develops with its mother during its infancy makes the child less hostile and more mild-mannered in later life.
But I wonder...
You see, I couldn't access the full text of the study (it necessitated a paid account to do so, so I only saw the abstract) so I'm not sure what the researcher's opinion was on the possibility that perhaps the babies were mild-mannered because women who breastfeed tend to relate more patiently towards their children.
Could it be that these children were less hostile, not because breastfeeding makes them more calm but because when a mother breastfeeds, she tends to become more patient and less hostile in dealing with her child?
Could it be that breastfeeding affects not (just) the child but (also) the mother?
Or could it be that mothers who choose to breastfeed their babies are more stable and more patient in the first place?
What do you think?
