IQ AND YOUR FLAME-PROOF SUIT
Could your baby’s IQ even be influenced by breastmilk? Researchers say “yes.” Consider this: In a study published in 1993 in the British medial journal Lancet, eight-year-olds who were given breastmilk in the first month of life scored 8.3 IQ points higher than another group fed formula.
In another study published in 1996 in the Journal of Human Lactation, 4-month-old babies exclusively fed breastmilk were compared to another group of four-month-olds fed formula or breastmilk supplemented by formula. The researchers found that babies fed only breast-milk “differed significantly” from the other groups, including the group fed a combination of mother’s milk and formula. Exclusive breastfeeders were ahead in both physical and behavioral development, keeping up with all of those “what your baby may be doing” charts and even exceeding many of the developmental milestones, unlike many in the other group. They were checked and compared again at a year and the differences still held up.
Another study looked at the mental and motor development of eighteen-month-olds. Even after controlling for things that are decidedly hard to control for (how smart the babies’ moms and dads are, how much stimulation there is for baby, how many other kids in the family are competing for mom’s and dad’s attention, etc.), the researchers still found a “robust statistical association between type of feeding and child intelligence.” One more thing: Some follow-up work suggests there are longterm developmental differences.
This is upsetting news for those who weren’t breastfed (including me, since I myself was minimally breastfed) and those who don’t breastfeed their own children. I tell you this because each time I’ve talked about a link between breastmilk and IQ, I’ve needed a flame-proof suit. Some will say the IQ differences are “small” or “insignificant,” but the studies taken together suggest the boost to IQ could be as low as one point, but may be in the range of five to ten points. I’ll let you be the judge of what seems “small” or “insignificant” to you.
But breastmilk doesn’t just make babies smarter. Scientists have identified more than three hundred components in breastmilk, and that’s just a fraction of what’s in it. They believe the combination of all that’s in breast-milk strongly influences a baby’s brain, behavior, and growth. It is also a big boon to babies’ and children’s immune systems, lessening the severity of some illnesses and even preventing others.
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