Breastfeeding babies could be crankier than bottle-fed babies, and new mothers should be informed this heightened irritability is natural, a new study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Cambridge, England suggested.
In the MRC Epidemiology Unit's cohort (or panel) study of 316 three-month-old babies, mothers reported their breastfed babies cried more and were harder to comfort than babies who were bottle-fed formula, but the researchers concluded these temperament differences were due to different mother and child communication dynamics, and women breastfeeding extra-cranky babies should not become discouraged and switch to bottle-feeding, fearing their babies must be nutritionally stressed, the BBC reported about the findings published in the online journal PLoS One.
Digital Journal reported in September 2010 and February 2011 on earlier studies that showed formula-fed babies and babies switched from breastfeeding to bottle-feeding early were more likely to become obese later in life.
Ken Ong, MRC pediatrician and lead author of the study that was designed to highlight associations but not prove causality, explained why his team's findings suggest new mothers dealing with difficult infant behaviors should be given more information and support, so fewer give up breastfeeding after only a few weeks:
According to the MRC team, the Department of Health recommends exclusive breastfeeding of newborns for six months, but the 2005 Infant Feeding Survey indicated three-quarters of new UK mothers begin breastfeeding, but only a third keep it up longer than four months.
The most common reason the surveyed mothers gave for stopping was, “Breast milk alone didn't satisfy my baby."But irritability is not a negative signal or sign of inadequate nutrition, and is instead a natural feature of the more complex dynamic signaling going on between breastfeeding babies and their mothers, Ong and his team wrote.
In related news, Digital Journal reported in April 2011 about the controversy stirred up the United States over a doll that simulates breastfeeding, marketed as a tool for teaching children "nurturing skills they’ll need to raise their own healthy babies in the future," including encouraging breastfeeding their future babies, according to the manufacturer.