A study of nearly hundred infants showed that breastfeeding a baby may reduce its risk of developing autism. Babies who were exclusively breastfed for longer were more likely to prefer looking at happy eyes and less likely to prefer looking at angry eyes. While autism is hard to diagnose before 24 months, children later diagnosed with the condition have been seen to pay less attention to people's eyes from between two and six months old.
Previous research has found that toddlers, adolescents and adults with autism disorder may have “abnormalities looking to the eyes.” Breastfeeding, which supplies the hormone oxytocin to babies, has been linked to increased sensitivity to emotions. The findings only applied to babies with a specific variation in the CD3 gene, which is associated with lower levels of oxytocin and increased risk of autism.
The researchers said their findings showed that differences in sensitivity to emotional eyes were linked to both genetic and external factors. Kathleen Krol from the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig Germany, led the research which looked at 98 seven-month-old babies.
