What Happens When Babies Are Fed Differently Revealed – ryan

The debate over whether breast is best has been ongoing for decades, but new research suggests that longer or exclusive breastfeeding was linked to fewer developmental delays and better language or social neurodevelopmental outcomes.

The cohort study, published in JAMA Network Openinvolved 570,532 children in Israel. Researchers found that longer and exclusive breastfeeding were independently linked to lower odds of developmental delays after adjusting for key confounders.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life, followed by continued breastfeeding alongside complementary foods for at least two years.

The researchers analyzed data from children born between January 2014 and December 2020, who were born after at least 35 weeks of gestation without severe morbidity and had at least one follow-up surveillance visit at two to three years of age.

Among 37,704 sibling pairs, they found that children who were breastfed for at least six months were less likely to experience delays in milestone attainment or neurodevelopmental deficiencies compared to their siblings who were breastfed for less than six months or not at all.

Newsweek spoke to study author Dr Inbal Goldshtein who was surprised that the link remained strong across different types of analysis.

“The relationship with breastfeeding duration was non-linear, with gradually reduced rates of language-social delays during the first eight months of breastfeeding and diminishing marginal association afterwards,” Goldshtein said.

Danielle Facey, The Breastfeeding Mentor and content creator (@thebreastfeedingmentor on Instagram) told Newsweek that breastfeeding is crucial for cognitive and developmental growth due to the nutrients in breast milk and the physiological processes it supports.

“One key aspect is myelination—the process by which nerve fibers are coated with a protective sheath (myelin), allowing electrical impulses to travel more efficiently in the brain,” she said.

Breast milk also contains long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, including DHA and AA, which are essential for building neural tissue and supporting brain growth, Facey added.

Goldshtein explained that the current data couldn’t differentiate between breastfeeding and pumped milk feeding. “Future research could investigate human-milk feeding vs parent-child bonding, to refine the roles of biological and psychosocial mechanisms behind the observed association,” she said.

Facey, who is also an expert at The Baby Show, told Newsweek that a common misconception of breastfeeding is it can prevent fathers from bonding with their baby.

“This simply isn’t true. Fathers and non-birthing parents can bond through skin-to-skin contact, cuddling, babywearing, bathing, and feeding expressed breast milk from a bottle,” she said.

“From around six months—or earlier if parents choose to introduce expressed milk—other caregivers can actively participate in feeding. Breastfeeding is just one piece of a nurturing family dynamic, not a barrier to connection.”

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Reference

Goldshtein, I., y., amit, G., kasir, N., Bourgeron, T., Warrier, V., Akiva, P., Avgil Tsakadok, M., & Zimmerman, Dr (2025). Breastfeeding Duration and Child Development. JAMA Network Open, 8(3), e251540.