Breast-feeding boosts brainpower? What new study says

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(CBS) Breast-feeding has been linked to all kinds of health benefits for kids, but does it boost their brainpower? New research from England shows that children who were breast-fed as babies score higher on intelligence tests than their bottle-fed counterparts.

For a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers used vocabulary and pattern-recognition tests to assess the cognitive development of about 12,000 five-year-olds, including some who had been born prematurely.

They found that at least among white English singletons (children born without twins or other multiples), the longer a child is breast-fed, the better his/her cognitive development.The effect was particularly strong for children who had been born prematurely.

"These differences suggest that breast-fed children will be one to six months ahead of children who were never breast-fed," concluded the authors of the study.

Does the study actually prove that breast-feeding boosts kids' cognition? Not quite. But the researchers offered some theories to explain why that might be true.

"There are essential fatty acids in breast milk which are good for cell development and brain development in particular," study author Dr. Amanda Sacker, a research professor at the University of Essex, told Reuters. Another possibility is that infant formula is lacking in hormones and growth factors that boost cognitive development.

Or there could be some simple social explanation.

"Perhaps children who are breastfed get cuddled more, and this confers some sort of advantage to them as well," she said.

Whether breast is best for kids' brains, there's wide agreement that breast-feeding has myriad health benefits for mother and child. In a call to action to support breast-feeding issued in January, the U.S. surgeon general said breast-feeding protects babies from diarrhea, pneumonia, and other infections as well as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and subsequent obesity. In addition, moms who breast-feed are less likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer.

Does all this suggest that moms who fail to breast-feed their kids are doing them a disservice? Breast-feeding expert Janet Fyle, of the Royal College of Midwives, told CBS News in May that "We must not send a negative message to mothers that they have failed, or make them feel guilty because they bottle-feed their babies."

What do you think? Are bottle-feeding moms doing a bad thing?

[momwhonursed4]

First, reread what you wrote eiddam. Obviously there was far less schooling available, and certainly not free! Baby formula is created to increase profit, nothing to do with baby health, use the cheapest materials, lie about the benefits and charge a fortune. A few years back it was discovered that some babies were being brain damaged because some of the formulas lacked certain minerals and fats and the babies didn't develop properly. There was a quick coverup and a change in ingredients to add what was missing.
A malnourished mother's milk is still better than the best formula on the market. Most formulas are over 50% sugar in various forms, read the labels. That alone makes it unhealthy.
Mothers aren't doing a bad thing by NOT breastfeeding, they have been conned into doing what is best for the industry instead of their baby.
Commercials are extremely effective in promoting bottle feeding as healthy and natural. From the moment she delivers a mother is in a pitched battle to breastfeed, since the best time to start is as soon as the baby is born, not hours later as is hospital policy.
From there she has to refuse the "gift pack" from various makers of formula, the constant offers by nursed to "take the babies and make sure they got enough milk" by bottle feeding, even if they know you are breastfeeding. Help is hard to find, and usually the help has no personal breastfeeding experience, just training by book.
To breastfeed is going against the norm, it's still radical after all these years and companies like NESTLE, CARNATION are actively working to eliminate it.

[Nate650]

Isn't it common sense that natural mother's milk is more nutritious than industrial baby formula created in a lab? Most of the commercial mainstream formulas contain processed junk like soybean oil.

Of course the quality of breast milk depends on what mother eats.

[eiddam]

When in the age of Breastfeeding, many moons ago and was the norm, why were there more illerate then now???