Posted on 10/03/2006 8:44:58 PM PDT by blam
Breast milk 'does not boost IQ'
Breastfed babies tend to be brighter
Breastfed babies are smarter because their mothers are clever in the first place, not because of any advantage of breastfeeding itself, a study suggests. Researchers found breastfeeding mothers tend to be more intelligent, more highly educated, and likely to provide a more stimulating home environment.
However, they stressed that there were still many advantages to breastfeeding.
The British Medical Journal study was carried out by the Medical Research Council and University of Edinburgh.
Lead researcher Geoff Der said: "This question has been debated ever since a link between the two [high IQ and breastfeeding] was first discovered in 1929.
"Breastfed children do tend to score higher on intelligence tests, but they also tend to come from more advantaged backgrounds."
The researchers analysed data from more than 5,000 children and 3,000 mothers in the USA.
They found that mothers who breastfeed tend to be more intelligent, and when this fact was taken into account, most of the relationship between breastfeeding and the child's intelligence disappeared.
The rest was accounted for by other aspects of the family background.
Sibling comparison
The researchers also looked at families where one child was breastfed and another was not.
This confirmed the earlier results - the breastfed child was no more intelligent than his or her sibling.
Putting the results together with other studies that measured the mother's IQ confirmed this pattern.
Mr Der said: "This research shows that intelligence is determined by factors other than breastfeeding.
"But breastfeeding has many benefits for both mother and child. It's definitely the smart thing to do."
Breastfeeding has been linked to a range of health benefits.
Just one day of breastfeeding is thought to be enough to stabilise a baby's blood sugar levels, and provide natural antibodies against disease.
Breastfed babies have been shown to be less prone to diarrhoea, vomiting, and respiratory infections. Breastfeeding may also have a long impact on reducing blood pressure and obesity.
The World Health Organization recommends that babies should be breastfed for at least the first two years.
Low rates
The UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe - almost a third of women in England and Wales never try to breastfeed, compared with just 2% in Sweden.
Rosie Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said the study was not conclusive.
She said a study in the Philippines - where, unlike the West, poorer women are more likely to breastfeed - showed that breastfed children were likely to be more intelligent.
However she added: "Women do not breastfeed because of any benefit to their baby, they do it because it feels like the natural thing to do.
"It is important that women make a decision that is right for them, and their family, and they should not be pressurised either way, but we would like to see more support for women who do decide they want to breastfeed."
A Department of Health spokesperson said breastfeeding is the best form of nutrition for infants.
"We know that the composition of breast milk meets the individual needs of each baby and that as a result breastfeeding can make a major contribution to public health."
Exactly so.
"No offense intended to all of those wonderful mothers that choose not to breast feed for any reason. You probably know better than me, I just a hard headed guy"
I'm just thankful I live during a time where baby formula and bottles are available.
I wouldn't have done well in the old days :)
"You know what I find ironic? People won't feed animals stuff that's artifical because it's not good for them. There are folks who won't feed hummingbirds red colored sugar water, but will stick it in their kids bottles. If it's not OK to do it to animals how can people justify it for their own children?"
Don't you think this is a bit extreme?
I tried - but I couldn't do it.
Some women do not produce enough milk.
Some women are on medication that prevents them from passing the drug along through breastfeeding.
Some people adopt babies and have to bottlefeed.
To equate bottlefeeding with red sugar water is a little strange.
I breastfed both of my boys, because well, it just seemed to be the natural thing to do...human mothers milk for human babies, just seemed right...and for me and my boys, it was just right...
No bottles, no mixing of formula and no cost...I got to spend super extra time cuddling my babies, the skin on skin contact was most excellent, and I just felt I was giving my babies the most perfect food I could give for this, the very beginning of their lives...I saw all advantages in breastfeeding, and no advantages...
Well, there was always one small disadvantage...after I had weaned my babies, every time I heard a small baby cry, whether in the store, or at church or anywhere else, I would begin to leak milk...it was just a natural response...and truly this went on for not just weeks or months...it actually went on for a couple of years, before it finally stopped...hear a baby cry, leak milk...
Even today, tho my sons are grown, whenever I hear a newborn baby crying, my boobs feel like they want to leak, its just a feeling, the same feeling I always had when my own boys would cry to be nursed, and my breasts were responding...
I am curious if the other ladies here, who have nursed a long time ago, have had the same thing happen...
I love that little pic. The way the child is looking up at the woman's face and those chubby baby cheeks reminds me of how my son looked at me while nursing.
Trust me, a few years later, memories of that sweet face looking up at me spared him from many a spanking. : )
Three children, not Superhealthy, but healthy, and not an IQ of less than 133........Don't flame me...I CREDIT their MOM!
I understand that there are situations where a woman cannot breastfeed and in those cases the babies have to eat or starve. That's not what I'm referring to.
Besides, I have actually seen BABIES, like about a year old, in stores and supermarkets with blue colored liquid in their bottles, the stuff that looks like light blue Gatorade.
Yup. ALthough I didn't leak past the time I nursed, I would get that feeling of letting down.
Would that be the congressman from Buffalo?
Female Breasts are like toy trains, they were designed with children in mind but adult males seem to have alot of interest in them also.
Ah, there you have the right phrase, 'letting down'...just could not think of it...I am past 60, and I still get that feeling of let down when new babies cry...
Dont know why I leaked so much for so long after I stopped nursing...it was just really kind of odd...
You don't mind if I keep working the dispenser just to be sure, do you?
Your story sounds exactly like mine, except I was able to figure out somewhat early on in my oldest child's infancy that the cow's dairy products I was taking in were coming through MY milk. My oldest child was MISERABLE until my system cleared itself of the dairy intake - takes up to 2 whole weeks. And then - WHAM - she started sleeping through the night - thank goodness because I was totally sleep-deprived until then due to her crankiness and colickyness and crying/screaming fits.
You might be interested in my story - above.
That is and always will be the top reason breastfeeding is so good.
Of course we all know that the #2 reason is..................
Flies can't get at the milk either.
Nam Vet
"Besides, I have actually seen BABIES, like about a year old, in stores and supermarkets with blue colored liquid in their bottles, the stuff that looks like light blue Gatorade."
I thought you were comparing formula to sugar drinks...sorry.
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