Posted on 07/30/2013 5:13:56 AM PDT by don-o
Young children who were breastfed as infants scored higher on intelligence tests than formula-fed kids, and the longer and more exclusively they were breastfed, the greater the difference, say Harvard University researchers in a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics.
This study adds “to the body of literature of the association between duration of breastfeeding and cognition,” says NBC News diet and health editor Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph. D., CNS. But does breastfeeding make your child smarter? Fernstrom says this study shows an association, not cause and effect.
The researchers analyzed 1,312 expectant mothers enrolled between 1999 and 2002 in Project Viva, a study in eastern Massachusetts examining pregnancy and child health, and the children they delivered.
The researchers found that 7-year-olds whose moms had done any breastfeeding during the child’s first year - exclusively or in combination with formula - gained a little more than a third of a point in verbal IQ for each month of breastfeeding compared to children who were never breastfed. That means if the mom did any mix of breastfeeding for the entire 12 months, the gain would be 4.2 verbal IQ points.
The association between breastfeeding and intelligence was stronger when researchers broke out children whose moms exclusively breastfed during the first six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Where did you get that I was against it?
5 kids - ALL breastfed.
What I was pointing out was that leftists, having the “people are no more than evolved animals” assumption, tried to push breastfeeding as a substitute for parental “givadamism”.
It’s funny. This hasn’t played out in my family. Didn’t nurse the first one, but she is by far the most intelligent and most successful. The others are boys, and have been too into Nintendo and other things to further themselves lately.
Raw intelligence doesn’t go anywhere without nurturing and a persistent work ethic.
That said, the youngest who I nursed for an extensive time does NOT need braces, unlike the older two. That alone saved us a good five grand.
That actually WAS studied, and it’s true.
Men are dumber when exposed to a shapely feminine form.
GIve the subject matter, wouldn't that actually be a quadruple blind study?
I don’t know about IQ, but the savings is incredible! Baby number three will be here in a couple of weeks, and so begins another year of that adventure. I’m trying to convert our formula savings from three kids into diamond earrings. Hubby isn’t exactly falling for it.
All these “studies” are to be taken with a lot of skepticism. Correlations are not necessarily causality.
Undernourished during the early years! ;-)
Ok, US government, then stop rewarding these low income welfare recipients with free formula. Most of them don’t work, and yet choose NOT to breastfeed. That is wrong. We are stuck with millions of dollars spent on WIC to pay for the formula, which in turn results in far more visits to the doctors for digestive and respiratory issues. I have worked in pediatrics and see it all day long ...it is not 10 days after delivery before they are back in the dr’s office with a baby who can’t tolerate various formulas, is backed up, screaming and constipated, and THEN they are putting it on the SUPER EXPENSIVE Nutramigen which costs everyone even more and tastes horrible.
If you are going to do anything with the child and not work, at least breastfeed. Would also help get the weight off a lot of these mothers, as well as anyone else who is concerned about post partum weight gain.
I don’t know about IQ, but the savings is incredible! Baby number three will be here in a couple of weeks, and so begins another year of that adventure. I’m trying to convert our formula savings from three kids into diamond earrings. Hubby isn’t exactly falling for it.
**
You breastfed three kids? You DESERVE the diamond earrings and more!
And we’re on the hook for the Medicaid costs associated with the extra doctor’s visits as well.
I don’t believe it either.
Just another study that manipulated the outcome they wanted.
True leftists tend to abort their ‘fetuses’.
The real push for breast feeding comes from those pushing a more natural lifestyle. I guess some of those are leftists but a lot are conservative too.
Well it’s proof that liberals/progressives have never been breastfed.
Ditto that, but for a different reason.
I figure that people who who are inclined to take the time to breast feed, likely are inclined to invest more time and effort with their kids at all levels.
Supplying the third world with iodized salt would do more to increase aggregate IQ than ANYTHING else. So simple, yet so hard to do.
Yes, I concur with that as well.
'Then,' bottle-boy.
Not necessarily, just means they have a slightly higher IQ. That doesn’t mean that they get the education they need. A higher IQ need be accompanied by higher learning. (I don’t mean “collage” necessarily especially not the kind we have in the USA.)
Totally agree with you here!
Hmmm, I call BS.. I was never breast fed.. and last time I took the stupid test, I got 136...
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