ArticleMaternal and child health journal2018
Breastfeeding, Parenting, and Infant Attachment Behaviors.
Article in Maternal and child health journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Effect of Maternal Depression on Infant Attachment: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Early-life factors associated with developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing symptoms from early childhood through adolescence: Rhea mother-child cohort in Crete, Greece.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Breastfeeding and later depression and anxiety in mothers in Ireland: a 10-year prospective observational study.BMJ open · 2026Observational
- Maternal mental health and infant and young child undernutrition: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Nepal journal of epidemiology · 2026Review
- Comparative Analysis of Breastfeeding and Infant Formulas: Short- and Long-Term Impacts on Infant Nutrition and Health.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Perinatal Intimate Partner Violence and Maternal-Infant Bonding in Women With Anxiety Symptoms in Pakistan: The Moderating Role of Breastfeeding.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2025Article
- Breastfeeding moderates the association between family socioeconomic status and child behavior scores.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Associations Between Breastfeeding, Maternal Emotional Availability, and Infant-Mother Attachment: The Role of Coparenting.Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · 2024Article
- 'It's far from the norm': breastfeeding beyond 1 year in the Republic of Ireland.Health promotion international · 2024Article
- Examining psychosocial pathways to explain the link between breastfeeding practices and child behaviour in a longitudinal cohort.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Breastfeeding experience of postnatal mothers separated from preterm infants after discharge: a phenomenology qualitative approach.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- The need for educational intervention for breastfeeding women and the professional practice of midwives in France to promote breastfeeding: A joint explanatory study.European journal of midwifery · 2024Article
- The Attitudes of Breastfeeding Mothers and Healthcare Professionals About Breastfeeding.Materia socio-medica · 2024Article
- Unraveling the effects of maternal breastfeeding duration and exclusive breast milk on children's cognitive abilities in early childhood.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Birth Experiences, Breastfeeding, and the Mother-Child Relationship: Evidence from a Large Sample of Mothers.The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres · 2022Article
- Breastfeeding practices for infants with inherited metabolic disorders: A survey of registered dietitians in the United States and Canada.Molecular genetics and metabolism reports · 2022Article
- Maternal Schizophrenia, Skin-to-Skin Contact, and Infant Feeding Initiation.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2022Article
- Mother-infant relationship and its Predictors.JBRA assisted reproduction · 2022Article
- Concept analysis of maternal-infant attachment during the weaning process.Belitung nursing journal · 2022Article
- Early Life Exposure to a Diet With a Supramolecular Lipid Structure Close to That of Mammalian Milk Improves Early Life Growth, Skeletal Development, and Later Life Neurocognitive Function in Individually and Socially Housed Male C57BL/6J Mice.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives Infants and toddlers need secure attachments in order to develop the social competence required to successfully navigate later peer and adult relationships. Breastfeeding is a parenting factor that has been associated with child emotional development-specifically the attachment between children and their mothers. Yet, this link may simply be the result of other parenting behaviors that are associated with breastfeeding. Thus, our objective is to examine whether the link between infant attachment behaviors and breastfeeding endures when accounting for a broad array of in-depth measures of parenting. Methods We use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of children from 9 months to 2 years of age collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. Using Ordinary Least Squares regression, data analyses examine the association between the Toddler Attachment Sort-45 (TAS-45) measures of toddler-parent attachment (infant attachment security and temperamental dependency) and breastfeeding practices. We also examine individual items of the TAS-45 to isolate specific attachment behaviors that have the strongest associations with breastfeeding. Results We find an enduring link between children who are predominantly breastfed for six or more months and infant attachment security. However, we find no evidence that breastfeeding is linked to a child's temperamental dependency. Of the nine items used to examine infant attachment behaviors, we find that breastfed children are rated as having slightly higher scores on two measures ("warm and cuddly," "cooperative") and lower scores on one measure ("demanding/angry"). Conclusions for Practice Breastfeeding has an important link to the child's use of their caregiver as a secure base for exploration and a place of comfort when distressed (infant attachment security). Yet, breastfeeding does not appear to reduce a child's temperamental dependency or level of clinginess as measured by how demanding, fussy or distressed the child becomes when separated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.