Research reveals that mothers with more social and financial resources may breast-feed longer than women with less support.
Pediatricians recommend that infants be exclusively breast-fed until at least 6 months of age because it can reduce their risk of ear and respiratory infections, sudden infant death syndrome, allergies, childhood obesity and diabetes.
Researchers followed two groups of mothers who gave birth in Germany about a decade apart and found that, over time, women became more likely to continue breast-feeding for 4 to 6 months. But these gains were limited to more educated women.
Among less educated mothers, the researchers only saw gains in breast-feeding after accounting for several factors that can get in the way of nursing babies, including a ceasarean delivery or smoking.