Breastfed = smarter babies!

[Tina Allen | Liddle Kidz]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breast-feed their infants for at least the first six months, with it continuing at least through the first year as other foods are introduced.

A new study helps to back up what many people have already thought - Breastfed babies grow to be smarter children!

Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported.


The study which began in the mid 1990's showed:

At 3 months, 73 percent of the babies in the breast-feeding encouragement group were breast-fed, compared to 60 percent of the other group. At 6 months, it was 50 percent versus 36 percent.

In addition, the group given encouragement was far more likely to give their children only breast milk. The rate was seven times higher, for example, at 3 months.

The children were monitored for about 6 1/2 years.

The children in the group where breast-feeding was encouraged scored about 5 percent higher in IQ tests and did better academically, the researchers found.

[Amanda]

I always try to encourage breastfeeding with the families I work with but it's not always easy. Especially since some are unable to breastfeed because their baby is in the hospital so much. There are also those cases where the mom was just not ever able to establish that connection. I guess if you can breastfeed you definitely should.