Breastfeeding makes no difference to how you bond with your baby, study finds
BREASTFEEDING does not make a difference to the strength of mum and baby bond, a study has found.
It will relieve mums who have felt guilt over their inability or choice not to breastfeed, a practice which is strongly advised by health experts.
The NHS says “breastfeeding can build a strong emotional bond between you and your baby” as a way to encourage new mums to do it.
But the results of quizzing 3,000 new mums suggests this bond is not exclusive to breastfeeders.
Researchers from the University of Lincoln recruited the mums, aged 28 on average, through online parenting forums and Facebook.
They were asked about how they fed their baby of under three years, their childbirth experience, and how close they felt to their baby using a 30-question quiz.
The research found no evidence to support that mums who breastfed had a greater bond with their baby compared with other feeding means.
The findings support those from Israel from 2019 that produced similar findings, but use a much larger group of mums.
Abigail Davis, the report’s author and PHD student at the university, said public and professional opinion both largely assume that breastfeeding drives bonding.
“Our study aligns with the few well-powered empirical studies which do not show this association,” she said.
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“Despite these findings, it should be recognised that breastfeeding is very important for many other reasons and should still be encouraged where possible
“This is for both health reasons for mum and baby, and because so many new mothers wish to breastfeed and feel unsupported in their journey, which can be disheartening.
“However, if a mother chooses not to, or cannot, breastfeed, we did not find evidence to suggest that their relationship with their child would be affected.”
Breastfeeding has a number of other advantages, including that it gives a baby antibodies that the mum carries against viruses.
It also reduces the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), childhood diabetes and leukaemia, the NHS says.
It adds “the longer you breastfeed, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits”.
And mums also get a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer from breastfeeding, as well as heart disease and brittle bones,
Although “breast is best”, as the saying goes, it is not imperative.
Mums do not have breastfeed if they choose not to, with dozens of reasons for choosing formula milk instead.
Sometimes mums find it too painful to breastfeed, or the baby does not seem to feel comfortable doing it.
There are a number of medical reasons, including that the baby needs to gain weight or has had an ICU stay that means they would benefit from formula.
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