A good start can have effects years later. (Photos.com)

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!)—Children who are breastfed for longer than six months could be at lower risk of mental health problems later in life, according to Australian research.

A study by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth looked at 2,366 children born to women enrolled in a pregnancy study in the state of Western Australia.

Each of the children underwent a mental health assessment when they were aged 2, 5, 8, 10, and 14.

The researchers found that breast-feeding could help babies cope better with stress and may signal stronger mother-child bonding, which could provide lasting benefits.

“Breast-feeding for a longer duration appears to have significant benefits for the … mental health of the child into adolescence,” researcher Dr. Wendy Oddy, who led the study, wrote in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Of the children in the study, 11 percent were never breast-fed, 38 percent were breast-fed for less than six months, and just over half were breast-fed for six months or longer.

The mothers who breast-fed for less than six months were younger, less-educated, poorer, and more stressed, and were also more likely to be smokers than the mothers who breast-fed longer.

They were also more likely to suffer from postpartum depression and their babies more likely to have growth problems.

At each of the assessments, the researchers found children who were breast-fed for shorter periods of time had worse behavior, which could translate into aggression or depression.

But for each additional month a child was breast-fed, behavior improved.

The researchers said breast-feeding for six months or longer remained positively associated with the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents even after adjustments for social, economic, and psychological factors as well as early-life events.

“Interventions aimed at increasing breastfeeding duration could be of long-term benefit for child and adolescent mental health,” the researchers concluded.