For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
40
views
71
references
 Top references
cited by
93
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      879
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and mothers.

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          While the nutritional and physical health benefits of breastfeeding are well established, accumulating research demonstrates the far-reaching psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and their mothers. Here, we provide a non-exhaustive review of the empirical evidence, showing that breastfeeding impacts children's brain, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. In mothers, research is presented indicating that breastfeeding influences mood, affect, stress, and maternal care. The current review aims to provide a broad overview of existing findings on the psychological effects of breastfeeding, highlighting the important role that breastfeeding plays across several dimensions of psychological functioning. We also discuss the potential mechanisms that may underpin the observed effects, provide a constructive commentary on the limitations of the existing work, and put forth some considerations when evaluating this line of research.

          Related collections

          Most cited references71

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Breastfeeding and child cognitive development: new evidence from a large randomized trial.

          Michael S Kramer (2008)
          The evidence that breastfeeding improves cognitive development is based almost entirely on observational studies and is thus prone to confounding by subtle behavioral differences in the breastfeeding mother's behavior or her interaction with the infant. To assess whether prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive ability at age 6.5 years. Cluster-randomized trial, with enrollment from June 17, 1996, to December 31, 1997, and follow-up from December 21, 2002, to April 27, 2005. Thirty-one Belarussian maternity hospitals and their affiliated polyclinics. A total of 17,046 healthy breastfeeding infants were enrolled, of whom 13,889 (81.5%) were followed up at age 6.5 years. Breastfeeding promotion intervention modeled on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Subtest and IQ scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and teacher evaluations of academic performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects. The experimental intervention led to a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (43.3% for the experimental group vs 6.4% for the control group; P < .001) and a significantly higher prevalence of any breastfeeding at all ages up to and including 12 months. The experimental group had higher means on all of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence measures, with cluster-adjusted mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of +7.5 (+0.8 to +14.3) for verbal IQ, +2.9 (-3.3 to +9.1) for performance IQ, and +5.9 (-1.0 to +12.8) for full-scale IQ. Teachers' academic ratings were significantly higher in the experimental group for both reading and writing. These results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, provide strong evidence that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive development. isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN37687716.
          Article 0 comments Cited 264 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Breastfeeding and depression: a systematic review of the literature.

            Cláudia Castro Dias, Barbara Figueiredo (2015)
            Research has separately indicated associations between pregnancy depression and breastfeeding, breastfeeding and postpartum depression, and pregnancy and postpartum depression. This paper aimed to provide a systematic literature review on breastfeeding and depression, considering both pregnancy and postpartum depression.
            Article 0 comments Cited 137 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              The relationship between infant-feeding outcomes and postpartum depression: a qualitative systematic review.

              Cindy-Lee Dennis, Karen McQueen (2009)
              The negative health consequences of postpartum depression are well documented, as are the benefits of breastfeeding. Despite the detailed research related to these maternal and infant health outcomes, the relationship between maternal mood and breastfeeding remains equivocal. A qualitative systematic review was conducted to examine the relationship between postpartum depressive symptomatology and infant-feeding outcomes. We performed electronic searchers in Medline (1966-2007), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1982-2007), and Embase (1980-2007) by using specific key words. A hand search of selected specialist journals and reference lists of articles obtained was then conducted. Seventy-five articles were reviewed, of which 49 specifically provided data to be extracted related to postpartum depressive symptomatology and infant-feeding outcomes. Both authors independently extracted data including study design, participants (number and characteristics), and results. The results from this review suggest that women with depressive symptomatology in the early postpartum period may be at increased risk for negative infant-feeding outcomes including decreased breastfeeding duration, increased breastfeeding difficulties, and decreased levels of breastfeeding self-efficacy. There is also beginning evidence to suggest that depressed women may be less likely to initiate breastfeeding and do so exclusively. Depressive symptomatology in the postpartum period negatively influences infant-feeding outcomes. These findings have important clinical implications and support the need for early identification and treatment of women with depressive symptomatology. However, strategies to address help-seeking barriers are needed if women are to receive appropriate and timely treatment. Research to determine effective interventions to support depressed breastfeeding women is warranted.
              Article 0 comments Cited 111 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
                Title: Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz
                Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
                ISSN (Electronic): 1437-1588
                ISSN (Print): 1436-9990
                Publication date (Electronic): Aug 2018
                Volume: 61
                Issue: 8
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, 485 McCormick Road, 22903, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
                [2 ] Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, 485 McCormick Road, 22903, Charlottesville, VA, USA. grossmann@virginia.edu.
                [3 ] Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. grossmann@virginia.edu.
                Article
                Publisher Item ID: 10.1007/s00103-018-2769-0
                DOI: 10.1007/s00103-018-2769-0
                PMC ID: 6096620
                PubMed ID: 29934681
                SO-VID: d3d58abd-fc9a-47d7-96a8-b0c20fc6fbd9
                History

                Keywords: Stress,Oxytocin,Emotion,Cognitive development,Brain
                Data availability:
                Keywords: Stress, Oxytocin, Emotion, Cognitive development, Brain

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content879

                See all similar

                Cited by93

                See all cited by