In recent studies, scientists have find out that there is a marked changed in how babies who have been breastfeed respond to social cues, and that babies have the definite ability to perceive positive emotions over that of negatives. In the study they did, they gathered 49 mothers with their seven month old male offspring and tested the reaction of the infants by showing them a set of two photographs showing a face that consists of different emotions. One picture portrayed a happy face, while the other was an angry one.
What they found out was that babies would stare longer at the face which has a happy emotion rather than that which had an angry one. The reason behind this is a certain genotype of gene called the CD38, called the CC genotype. What's more amazing is that most of the children that have been breastfeed for longer times, showed positive results when shown the happy pictures, staring at them vividly and far more than that of the angry one.
The only setback of the research was that it was done in Germany rather than another place such as the Unites States, wherein maternity leave for mothers are short. Germany has a one year maternity leave, meaning mothers in Germany have longer periods to breastfeed their child, if they chose to. The study does not pressure mothers to breastfeed there kids but rather to show the links between breastfeeding and social mechanisms, as well as social behaviors.
For the babies who did not appear to have the CC gene, the length of time they were breastfed was not linked to the amount of time they looked at the emotional faces. Rather, the study concludes that it might have to do something with the hormone, oxytocin, which is a hormone associated with social bonding. According to the researchers, breastfeeding maybe able to regulate the levels of oxytocin in infants with the CC genotype and improve their social skills.
