Breastfeeding Boosts Brainpower
Like many of her peers in the early 1960s (okay, it was 1960), my mom didn't even consider breastfeeding; for her (meaning, for me), it was bottles all the way. And I guess I turned out okay, brainpower-wise.
But just think how smart I could have been if she'd nursed me!
A new study, the largest ever of its kind, shows that exclusive breastfeeding for three or more months is tied to higher IQ scores and teacher-evaluated performance in reading, writing, math, and other subjects down the road. (The babies in the study underwent the IQ and other testing when they were 6 1/2 years old.) The association between breastfeeding and improved cognitive ability had been long suspected and researched through observational studies; the new research is the first to examine the connection through a big, randomized trial.
And a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows that more and more women are opting to breastfeed.
That bodes well for the future. But it's not to say, of course, that breastfeeding is the only option. I have known women for whom the discomfort of nursing was severe enough to cut that little experiment short. And some women just feel squeamish about the whole thing.
But many women who would like to nurse for the kind of prolonged period in the IQ study find it hard to maintain exclusive breastfeeding after they return to work. I will never forget the logistics and embarrassment associated with using a breast pump in the office -- and I worked in a very mom- and nursing-friendly place. Check out tomorrow's Health section for an article about the challenges women in D.C. face in trying to find private, clean spaces to express milk, despite the D.C. Council's December 2007 law requiring employers to provide such spaces.
Also coming tomorrow, in the On Parenting blog: three Post reporters review a new hands-free breast pump. Can't wait to see what they say!
By Jennifer Huget |
May 12, 2008; 7:00 AM ET
| Category:
Family Health
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Posted by: elizabeth6 | May 12, 2008 11:24 AM
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I nursed my very strong minded son who was born in 1968 until he decided to put an end to this activity at 10 months. He went straight to the cup and I recall feeling hurt and not a little sad when he displayed such obvious joy while holding and drinking from it, and at the same time rejecting the warmth and closeness of me.
For decades the theory has been that babies who are nursed become more intelligent than bottle fed ones and my husband and I go along with this naturally. However we believe it is 75% the close daily contact and interaction that accompanies the nursing that produces the early cognitive ability of the child. Not just the nutritious and allergy preventing milk. I was lucky to be a full time Mom and feel sorry for the valiant and dedicated Mothers of today who have to both work and juggle a family. It would be interesting to look back in history and trace the early childhood of the world's leaders. The custom of handing over the baby to a wet nurse may have been a better solution than the bottle simply because of the warm and close body contact and steady heat rhythm shared with the surrogate Mother.