Breastfeeding Might Lower ADHD Risk, Study Finds

Key TakeawaysBreastfeeding might have a protective effect against ADHDBoys and girls who were breastfed more had lower odds of ADHD symptomsExclusive breastfeeding for six months provided the strongest protection.TUESDAY, June 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Want to protect your child from ADHD?Breastfeeding might be one way to reduce their risk, a new study says.Babies fed with breast milk were less likely to develop ADHD symptoms as preschoolers and elementary students, researchers reported recently in the journal Biological Psychiatry.“We found that the longer a child was exclusively breastfed (up to six months), the lower the level of ADHD symptoms at ages 3, 5 and 8 years,” lead researcher Dr. Berit Skretting Solberg said in a news release. She’s a psychiatrist at the University of Bergen in Norway.Breast milk is uniquely tailored to human children, and contains numerous nutrients that are beneficial for brain development, researchers said in background notes. These include long-chain fatty acids, amino acids, antibodies and beneficial bacteria.For the new study, researchers tracked more than 37,600 children participating in a long-term study of Norwegian families. Mothers reported how long children were exclusively breastfed, as well as when they were introduced to other liquids or solid foods.Results showed that breastfeeding reduced the odds of ADHD in both boys and girls. The effect was strongest at ages 3 and 5, and was somewhat weaker at age 8.All breastfeeding was beneficial, but the protective effect increased with duration and frequency, researchers found. Babies exclusively breastfed for up to six months had the strongest protection against ADHD.Researchers also took extra steps to rule out genetics as a possible explanation, by adjusting for known influences like a family history of ADHD. The team also compared siblings who were breastfed differently by the same mom.“Even after these adjustments, there was a clear but moderate protective effect of the duration of exclusive breastfeeding on later ADHD symptoms,” Solberg said.However, researchers said more studies and clinical trials are needed to confirm this link, and to see if it holds in places outside Norway.Solberg said the protective effect might be even more powerful in other areas where breastfeeding is less common.“In our society, heredity is likely the strongest risk factor for ADHD. However, since ADHD — like other neurodevelopmental disorders — is influenced by multiple factors, our study suggests that the extent of breastfeeding may also help protect against the development of ADHD symptoms in young children,” she said.More informationThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on breastfeeding benefits.SOURCES: University of Bergen, news release, June 26, 2026; Biological Psychiatry, June 19, 2026 .What This Means For YouMoms might be able to protect their babies from ADHD by breastfeeding..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Breastfeeding Might Lower ADHD Risk, Study Finds

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