Friday 18 January 2019

BREASTFED BABIES MORE LIKELY TO BE RIGHT HANDED


Could the way you feed your bub be associated with whether they end up being right or left-handed? It certainly seems like an odd link, but that's the conclusion of a new large study of breastfeeding and handedness, recently published in the journal. Specifically, results indicated that compared to bottle feeding, breastfeeding for less than one month was associated with 9 per cent decreased prevalence of non-right handedness, while nursing for one to six months and six or more was associated with 15 per cent and 22 per cent decreased prevalence respectively. But the association ended there, "Breastfeeding for longer than 9 months was not associated with further reductions in the prevalence for non-right handedness," the study notes.


It's important to note that the study doesn't show that breastfeeding causes right-handedness, something Professor Hujoel explains is partially down to genetics. Instead, the findings shed light on when the region of the brain that controls handedness localizes to one side of the brain, a process known as brain lateralisation. Professor Hujoel notes that the effect of breastfeeding on handedness may also be unrelated to nutrition and more to do with hormonal responses associated with mother-infant bonding during breastfeeding. It's not the first time a study has linked breastfeeding to handedness.


About 10 per cent of people are left-handed, with lefties more common in males (11 per cent) than females (13 per cent). Other studies have shown that being left-handed is more common in twins (8.1 per cent) and triplets (7.1 per cent) than singletons (5.8 per cent), while being ambidextrous is more common in triplets (6.4 per cent) than in twins (3.4 per cent) and singletons (3.5 per cent).
The reality is, however, does it really matter whether your bub is left or right-handed? The short answer is no. And nor is it possible for every mum to breastfeed their baby - for one reason or another - and there is absolutely no judgment from us. While there's much we still don't know about being left or right-handed, have found no significant differences in personality traits between lefties and righties. And when it comes to sports like baseball, cricket and table tennis, lefties certainly have the upper hand.

1 comment:

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