Posted on 12/20/2010 9:21:15 AM PST by James C. Bennett
Breast feeding for at least six months has been associated with enhanced immunity and other benefits for children -- but a prospective study from Australia suggests breast feeding may also yield academic benefits later in a child's life, at least for boys.
The study, which followed almost 3,000 children from birth onward, found those who were predominantly breast fed for six months or longer had significantly higher scores on standardized tests of reading, math, and spelling at age 10 compared with kids breast fed for shorter periods, according to Wendy Oddy, PhD, of Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth in Western Australia, and colleagues.
However, the effects on those test scores appeared to be much stronger for boys than for girls, Oddy and co-authors reported online in Pediatrics.
"Our study adds to growing evidence that breast feeding for at least six months has beneficial effects on optimal child development," they wrote.
While breast feeding is promoted as beneficial to both the mother and newborn -- and exclusive breast feeding for at least six months is widely recommended -- the benefits of breast feeding on cognitive development have not been clear, according to background provided by the authors.
For example, the researchers asked, would benefits breast feeding reflect nutritional or socioeconomic advantages? Some studies have shown no benefits in terms of academic achievement after adjusting for socioeconomic status, environment, and maternal verbal ability, while benefits are apparent in others.
To examine the relationship between duration of breast feeding and educational outcomes, the researchers assessed data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort, which included 2,900 women who were enrolled at 18 weeks gestation. A total of 2,868 infants were then followed prospectively.
The researchers matched these data with standardized test scores in mathematics, reading, writing, and spelling for 1,038 of these children.
Overall, the researchers found that children who were breast fed for at least six months had higher academic scores than those who weren't breast fed that long.
Children of mothers who were merely continuing to breast feed at six months had significantly better scores, which increased with each additional month of breast feeding for math (P=0.01), reading (P<0.001), writing (P=0.004), and spelling (P=0.005).
But these results were attenuated when adjusted for confounding factors including maternal and demographic factors. With each additional month of breast feeding, the scores still increased, but did not reach significance, the researchers said.
However, children of mothers who were predominantly breast fed at six months had significantly improved academic scores in multivariable models for reading, math, and spelling. Those findings approached significance for writing, the researchers said.
The relationship may be explained by the fact that nutrients in breast milk -- especially long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids -- are essential for optimum brain growth, including cell membranes and neurons.
When looking at other factors, the researchers found that lower maternal education and family income were significantly associated with decreased child academic achievement.
Conversely, reading and looking at books with the child between ages 3 and 5 were associated with improved mean scores for reading and writing, particularly for girls.
This gender difference also held true for the big picture. When analyzing the cohort by gender, predominant breast feeding at six months was significantly associated wtih increased mathematics, reading, writing, and spelling scores for boys -- but there was no effect on educational attainment for girls in any subject.
The researchers said this could be due to the fact that male children are known to be more vulnerable to adversity during critical periods, which may be related to the neuroprotective effect of estradiols. These are typically at higher concentrations in female children.
Thus, any neuroprotective role of breast milk would have greater benefits for male children, they explained.
Another possibility is that breast feeding has a positive effect on the mother-child relationship, facilitating bonding, interaction, and, indirectly, cognitive growth. Studies have shown that male infants are more reliant than females on maternal attentnion, so the positive effects of this bond may be stronger in males.
One limitation of the study was that it could not control for maternal intelligence. There was also a lack of information on children who attended non-government schools, and no data on academic achievement at other time points.
The study was also conducted only among mothers and children in Australia, which may limit its generalizability to other locations.
The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study is funded by grants from Raine Medical Research Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation, and the Australian Rotary Health Fund.
Co-authors were supported by a Curtin University fellowship and the Australian Research Council.
The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
Have at it.
Bring them on!
God Bless and thank you Mom.
Interesting. Does it continue to work later in life?
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Breastfeeding benefits children, especially boys? Well, that’s not fair, so, it’s time to ban breastfeeding. /liberal logic
Interesting article. Thank you for posting
Really? It’s almost like GOD PLANNED IT THAT WAY!
No wonder HOOTERS has such a hungry clientele with big appetites. It reminds us of our childhoods!
Not if the mother is using drugs and boozing. Had a neighbor who would get drunk and think it fine to breast feed a day later. Poor child was a zombie. You could tell when the mother had been drinking just by how the child behaved. To top it all, the woman was a special ed teacher.
Then there was a study a few years ago showing there were cancer cells in breast milk.
“Really? It’s almost like GOD PLANNED IT THAT WAY!”
“What God says about Breastfeeding”
http://www.motheringfromtheheart.com/whatgod.htm
ttiuwp
;-)
Gee, thanks a lot. Now I'm more confused than an infant in a topless bar...
I certainly hope so. I keep trying. :=)
My husband wants to know if it matters WHICH six months, LOL!
Yay babies!!!
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