WARMRegards Dec. 2018: Breastfeeding & the Achievement Gap

WARMRegards Dec. 2018: Breastfeeding and the Achievement Gap in Low-Income Families

 

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The first few years of a baby’s life are the most crucial when it comes to growth and development. During this critical time, babies need nourishment of both their bodies and their minds – and parents are the most vital source of that nourishment. Unfortunately, a child’s socioeconomic status can be a big determiner of their health and achievement both during childhood and later into adulthood.

 

The disparity between economically advantaged children and economically disadvantaged children is obvious. According to the California Breastfeeding Coalition:

  • 71% of parents with a college degree read to their babies every day
  • 33% of parents without a college degree read to their babies daily
  • 68% of higher-income parents breastfeed
  • 38% of lower-income parents breastfeed

 

What is the Achievement Gap?

Children from low-income families typically hear roughly thirty million fewer words in the first three years of life than children from higher-income families. Because babies’ brains are little sponges, soaking up everything around them, exposure to words makes a big difference in a child’s verbal skills.

 

The California Breastfeeding Coalition says that, by the time they are three years old, children from economically advantaged households know 1,100 words, whereas children from economically disadvantaged homes know only 500. That’s less than half! And this word gap continues to grow as children age.

 

The word gap, which becomes an achievement gap as the child enters their school years, can be attributed to many factors. The National Education Association (NEA) identifies family income level as one of the contributing factors. Tied in with this is the time parents are able to spend reading to their children.

 

Parents of low-income families tend to spend a lot of time working, particularly at odd hours, leaving them little time to engage with their children and support learning through reading to their children. These families might also experience a dearth of after-school activities and organizations that increase word exposure and enhance learning in children. Rather than placing their child in an educational preschool, these parents are more likely to rely on less-expensive daycares or babysitters for childcare.

 

How Does Breastfeeding Fit In?

When a mother breastfeeds, she tends to engage more with her child, talking to the baby as it nurses and exposing it to new words and ideas. But much like with words, there is a breastfeeding gap as well. Mothers from low-income households are less likely to breastfeed than higher-income mothers. This is a double-whammy to the child because the child is missing out on that important engagement with mom as well as the nutritional benefits inherent in breastfeeding.

 

A child’s nutrition at home is identified as another of the contributing factors of the achievement gap by the NEA. Because breast milk is naturally designed to have all the nutrients a baby needs, and is specifically designed for that particular baby’s needs, children who do not breastfeed do not benefit from the irreplaceable hormones, antibodies, enzymes, and growth factors in breast milk. Formula is not capable of reproducing the same benefits as breast milk.

 

Breastfed babies are shown to get sick less often and less severely. They also have lower mortality rates and lower levels of stress, depression, and anxiety.

 

Closing the Gap

The best way to close the gap is to prevent it from the beginning. This means working with the low-income mothers your clinic serves to educate them about the achievement gap and the health and developmental benefits of breastfeeding.

 

An article on the topic by NPR suggests parents not only talk to their children, but engage with them on a regular basis. If the child is showing an interest in something, parents should ask questions about it and encourage a dialogue. This helps children develop not only their listening skills, but their speaking skills as well.

 

Your clinic can help new mothers learn to engage with their babies by setting up seminars where mothers can learn these strategies and how conversing with their babies can have lifelong benefits. You can use your website or a smartphone app to distribute easy-to-read information that gives moms some simple statistics about the achievement gap as well as strategies for engaging their children on a daily basis, even with a busy schedule. Encourage mothers to talk to their babies every chance they get: during feedings and changings, while in the car, etc.

 

You can also distribute information about how breastfeeding gives mothers an easy path to engagement, while also ensuring babies are healthier and better-fed. An encrypted chat app can even allow mothers to have one-on-one conversations with nutritionists or other specialists at your clinic, giving mothers the opportunity to ask specific questions and get personalized help and feedback instantly.

 

Mothers from a poverty background likely grew up in circumstances where they received little engagement as a child, so they aren’t aware that this can be harmful to their own babies. Your first line of defense in closing the achievement gap is educating these mothers on the importance of intellectual engagement with their children and the role breastfeeding plays in a child’s development.

 

By Shela Ward

 

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