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Children that are breastfed have a
higher IQ than children that are fed formula? Is this some sort of unsupported
statement by radical breastfeeding supporters? Has our support of breastfeeding
outstripped the facts? Nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps one of the most important stories
that hasn't made your local paper (but has been on the newsfeeds) is that there is a
demonstrated direct relation between a child's intelligence and cognitive ability and how
long that child was breastfed. Some studies show an increase in intelligence for each
additional month the child was breastfed.
Could you give your child a more important gift than a better brain? The findings
are hardly surprising when we consider that the brain is only 1/3 formed at birth, and
that breastmilk has been evolutionarily honed over millions of years to complete building
the brain during the first two years of life. Cow's milk has been evolutionarily
honed to.., hmm.., maybe build big bones? Whoever heard of a smart cow? |
"In long intervals I have expressed an opinion on public
issues whenever they appeared to be so bad and infortunate that silence would have made me feel
guilty of complicity."
- Albert Einstein |
Below are two articles summarizing the findings of the Christchurch School of Medicine in
New Zealand, which followed 1,000 children for 18 years to establish the relationship
between intelligence and breastfeeding. Below that are references on 7 other
separate studies that show a correlation between breastfeeding and cognitive development.
Breast-Fed Make Better Grades.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Breastfeeding during infancy of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Researchers from Christchurch School of Medicine in New
Zealand studied over 1,000 children born between April and August 1977. During the period
from birth to one year, they gathered information on how these children were fed.
The infants were then followed to age 18. Over the years, the researchers collected a
range of cognitive and academic information on the children, including IQ (intelligence
quotient), teacher ratings of school performance in reading and math, and results of
standardized tests of reading comprehension, mathematics, and scholastic ability.
The researchers also looked at the number of passing grades achieved in national School
Certificate examinations taken at the end of the third year of high school.
The results indicated that the longer children had been breast-fed, the higher they scored
on such tests.
Children who were breast-fed for eight months or more had, on average, significantly
higher test scores than children who were not breast-fed. "Similarly, children
breast-fed for eight or more months were only two-thirds as likely as non-breast-fed
children to have left school without qualifications," the researchers state.
The study authors note that mothers who elected to breastfeed tended to be older, better
educated, from upper-income backgrounds, in a two-parent family, not to smoke during
pregnancy, and had attained above-average income and living standards.
Still, after taking into account these and other possible "confounding" factors,
the results held.
The researchers say the findings "underwrite the need to encourage breastfeeding
and/or... (development of) improved infant formulas with properties more similar to those
of human breast milk."
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least 12 months
"or longer as mutually desired by infant and mother."
Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive. and Academic Outcomes
From the Christchurch Health and Development Study,
Christchurch
School of Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Objective. This study examines the associations between duration of breastfeeding
and childhood cognitive ability and academic achievement over the period from 8 to 18
years using data collected during the course of an 18-year longitudinal study of a birth
cohort of >1000 New Zealand children.
Method. During the period from birth to age 1 year, information was collected on
maternal breastfeeding practices. Over the period from 8 to 18 years, sample members were
assessed on a range of measures of cognitive and academic outcomes including measures of
child intelligence quotient; teacher ratings of school performance; standardized tests of
reading comprehension, mathematics, and scholastic ability; pass rates in school leaving
examinations; and leaving school without qualifications.
Results. Increasing duration of breastfeeding was associated with consistent and
statistically significant increases in 1) intelligence quotient assessed at ages 8 and 9
years; 2) reading comprehension, mathematical ability, and scholastic ability assessed
during the period from 10 to 13 years; 3) teacher ratings of reading and mathematics
assessed at 8 and 12 years; and 4) higher levels of attainment in school leaving
examinations. Children who were breastfed for >= 8 months had mean test scores that
were between 0.35 and 0.59 SD units higher than children who were bottle-fed.
Mothers who elected to breastfeed tended to be older; better educated; from upper
socioeconomic status families; were in a two-parent family; did not smoke during
pregnancy; and experienced above average income and living standards. Additionally, rates
of breastfeeding increased with increasing birth weight, and first-born children were more
likely to be breastfed.
Regression adjustment for maternal and other factors associated with breastfeeding reduced
the associations between breastfeeding and cognitive or educational outcomes. Nonetheless,
in 10 of the 12 models, fitted duration of breastfeeding remained a significant predictor
of later cognitive or educational outcomes. After adjustment for confounding factors,
children who were breastfed for >= 8 months had mean test scores that were between 0.11
and 0.30 SD units higher than those not breastfed.
Conclusions. It is concluded that breastfeeding is associated with small but
detectable increases in child cognitive ability and educational achievement. These effects
are 1) pervasive, being reflected in a range of measures including standardized tests,
teacher ratings, and academic outcomes in high school; and 2) relatively long-lived,
extending throughout childhood into young adulthood. Key words: breastfeeding, cognitive
ability, academic achievement, longitudinal study.
_________________________________________________
Copyright 1997 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Study References.
1)
Pollock, J.I.
"Long-term associations with infant feeding in a clinically advantaged population of
babies."
Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 1994; 36(5);429-40
[Some aspects of intellectual attainment at five and ten years of age can be demonstrated
to be inferior among children who were formula-fed compared with those that were
exclusively breastfed for at least three months.]
2)
Morley R., et al
"Mother's choice to provide breastmilk and developmental outcome."
Arch Dis Child 63:1382-1385, 1988.
[Formula-fed preterm infants had lower Bayley Mental Develpment scores at 18 months, even
after adjusting for social and demographic influence.]
3)
Morrow-Tlucak, M, et al.,
"Breastfeeding and cognitive development in the first two years of life."
Soc Sci Med 26:635-639, 1988.
[Scores on the Bayley Mental Development Index were lower in formula-fed at 1-2 years of
age, and scores were directly correlated with duration of breastfeeding.]
4)
Bauer G, et al.
"Breastfeeding and cognitive development of three-year-old children."
Psychological Reports 68:1218, 1991.
[Scores on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities were significantly lower at three
years of age as the duration of breastfeeding decreased.]
5)
Taylor B, et al.
"Breastfeeding and child development at five years."
Dev Med Child Neurol 26:73-80, 1984.
[Formula-fed children showed reduced performance on developmental tests at age five
years.]
6)
Lucas, A. et al.
"Breast milk and subsequent intelligence quotient in children born preterm."
Lancet 1992;33;261-62.
[Formula-fed preterm infants had lower IQ scores at age 7-8 years than preemies fed
expressed breastmilk; the association held after controlling for mother's education and
social class, and regardless of whether the mother attempted to express milk and failed or
never attempted to express milk.]
7)
Lucas, A., et al.
"A randomised multicentre study of human milk versus formula and later development in
preterm infants."
Arch. Dis. Child 1994; 70;F141-146
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