The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm tracked data from the British Cohort Study, a longitudinal project based on about 9,000 people born in April 1970. Information was collected at birth, five and ten years of age.
Teachers were asked to rate the child's anxiety at ten on a scale of zero to 50.
The findings, 'The Archives of Disease in Childhood', were published last week in the British Medical Journal, and concluded that breastfed children were more resilient when faced with an emotional trauma, such as the separation of parents. Bottlefed children whose parents divorced were nine times more likely to be highly anxious than those whose parents remained together. However, those who were breastfed were only twice as likely to be highly anxious.
Another study, from the Helsinki Skin and Allergy Hospital in Finland, found that breastfeeding for longer than six months could influence the immune system and affect the risk of a baby developing allergies.