Breast is still best – even if it does lead to tantrums

Breastfed babies cry more, laugh less and generally have “more challenging temperaments” than formula-fed infants, a study has found.

But mothers should learn to cope with such behaviour, rather than reach for the bottle, according to researchers. Infant irritability was said to be a natural part of the “dynamic communication” between mothers and babies, while bottle-feeding was akin to “comfort eating” – producing quieter and apparently more content babies who may be over-nourished and putting on weight too rapidly.

The study by researchers at Cambridge University rated the temperaments of 316 babies at age three months using a behaviour questionnaire completed by their mothers.

Scores differed between babies that were exclusively breast-fed, bottle-fed or mixed-fed.

In three broad areas, breast and mixed-fed babies were rated as being more difficult to deal with than bottle-fed babies.

The study authors wrote in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE: “In particular, compared to formula-fed infants, breastfed infants were reported to show greater distress, less smiling, laughing and vocalisation, to be slower to calm down following distress or excitement, and more difficult to soothe by care givers.”

The findings may help explain why so many mothers give up on breastfeeding after a short time, despite the strong health message that “breast is best” for growing infants.

Department of Health guidelines encourage mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months after birth.

According to a 2005 survey, three-quarters of new UK mothers start out breastfeeding their babies, but only a third are still doing so after four months.

Study leader Dr Ken Ong, from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, urged mothers to persevere despite the difficulties and seek help if they need it.

“There is an overwhelming body of evidence supporting breastfeeding as the normal and most healthy form of infant nutrition, and our findings do not contradict this,” he said.

“Bottle-fed babies may appear more content, but research suggests that these infants may be over-nourished and gain weight too quickly. Our findings are essentially similar to other stages of life; people often find that eating is comforting.”

He added: “Rather than being put off breastfeeding, parents should have more realistic expectations of normal infant behaviour and should receive better understanding and support to cope with difficult infant behaviours if needed. These approaches could potentially promote successful breastfeeding, because currently many mothers attempt to breastfeed but give up after the first few weeks.”

Babies involved in the research were among 1,526 infants enrolled into the Cambridge Baby Growth Study.

Of the infants, 137 were exclusively breastfed, 88 were exclusively bottle-fed, and 91 were fed with a mixture of formula and breast milk.

The researchers concluded: “Infants who were breastfed or mixed-fed at three months of age were rated by their mothers as having overall more challenging temperaments.”