A new study shows breastfeeding leading to smarter kids. Other studies have found that breastfeeding goes along with being smart. This new study is exciting because it was designed to try to figure out whether breastfeeding causes higher IQ or if they just happen together for other reasons.
Exclusive breastfeeding enhances children’s cognitive development
By Lucy Piper
12 May 2008
Archives of General Psychiatry 2008; 65: 578-84
MedWire News: Children who are exclusively breastfed for at least 3 months have better cognitive development as measured by IQ at age 6.5 years than other children, research indicates.
Michael Kramer (The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Quebec, Canada) and colleagues carried out a large randomized trial to assess the effects of prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding on the cognitive ability of 13,889 infants at age 6.5 years.
In all, 7,108 of the infants were born at hospitals that promoted and supported breastfeeding as part of a World Health Organization initiative, while 6,781 were born at hospitals adhering to standard practices and policies.
Significantly more babies born at the intervention hospitals were breastfed at 3 months and remained so throughout the first year.
Scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence Measures, showed a 7.5-point improvement in verbal IQ for breastfed infants compared with control infants. They also scored 2.9 and 5.9 points higher for performance and full-scale IQ, respectively.
The researchers note that while breastfeeding appears to improve children’s cognitive development, it is still uncertain whether this is due to components of breast milk such as fatty acids or the physical and social interaction that accompanies breastfeeding.
They say the findings “should prove helpful in encouraging further public health efforts to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.”
We usually hear that breastfeeding is good because it is good for individual mothers and babies: bonding, good nutrition, good health. But breastfeeding is good for our environment too: no packaging, no transportation, no waste. The Australian Breastfeeding Association has some great posters that celebrate the way breastfeeding protects our environment. I wish I had a place to display these (a disadvantage doing home visits instead of having an office…). My favorite is the one with the cute baby feet: “Breastfeeding leaves no footprint.” What’s your favorite?
There are so many aspects of breastfeeding that we just don’t see in our society until we’re nursing our own children. And even then, we really only see ourselves and our own babies. It’s generally not socially acceptable to look at other women’s breasts or to carefully watch other women’s babies latching on. So if we’re wondering if we’re normal we don’t have anything for comparison.
The website 007b.com (double 0 seven breasts — you’ll have to read their explanation on the site for the title) works on normalizing breasts and breastfeeding. You can look at pictures of a lot of different breasts that have successfully breastfed babies.
In Madison women have the right to breastfeed their babies in public:
“No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child or expressing breastmilk within any public accommodation where the mother would otherwise be authorized to be.” (Dane County (34.015) and Madison City (23.37) Ordinances)
Some practical tips and the right attitude makes it easier, though. Check this out:
I recently saw an analogy comparing formula with wheelchairs. Wheelchairs are fantastic if you can’t walk. When my oldest son was a toddler, he thought the rows of wheelchairs at the hospital entrance were the coolest thing ever. But no one would suggest that wheelchairs are just as good as walking or that everyone should use them or even that we should all have one around “just in case”. No one would ever suggest that a wheel chair should be the first thing to try if walking didn’t come easily right away. Similarly, sometimes formula can be a great resource for helping babies that can’t get enough milk from their mothers. But giving a baby formula is not the same as breastfeeding and will never be a complete substitute for mother’s milk. It is not just as good as mother’s milk, or something that everyone should use, or even have around “just in case”.
If your baby isn’t thriving when you feed him the normal way that babies eat — your own milk at your breast — then lactation consultants are here to help you try to get there. If your baby isn’t growing well, then first of all he needs as much of your milk as possible. If he needs still more to eat, then the best supplement is milk from other mothers. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine recommends pasteurized human donor milk. You can learn more about using or donating milk from the Mother’s Milk Association of Wisconsin.
I realize that donor milk just isn’t a feasible option for everyone that needs to supplement right now (cost and access are still a problem). If you need to supplement with formula it can be hard to find information about formula that isn’t advertising from the people that are selling formula. A good place to start would be a local (ok, Milwaukee — so almost local) pediatrician’s website, Dr. Jenny Thomas. If you want to read more about issues surrounding the additives DHA and ARA, check out Marsha Walker’s new report. The World Health Organization has a publication (available on-line) with guidelines for safe preparation of powdered formula.
Finally, this is a hard topic because it has become associated with whether or not a mother is a “good” mother. I’d like to use the wheelchair analogy one more time. Using a wheelchair is not about being “good” or “bad”. It’s about using the tools you need to get along. I think when mothers have good breastfeeding information and support (family, friends, health care, and workplace) that formula can move out of the “good” or “bad” categories and into its true place as the safest substitute we have when there isn’t enough mother’s milk available.
As a lactation consultant I’m here to help you have a good breastfeeding experience as you define it — not as I define it. So I’m interested in your story not my story. I’m here to give you the combined experience of many women and scientific research not the particulars of my own breastfeeding experience.
But that doesn’t make exciting blogging. It’s a lot more fun to read about the experience and feelings of being an individual nursing mama. Just like with talk radio, it’s a lot more entertaining to hear from the people with out-spoken opinions. So if you want to read fun blogging about breastfeeding check out The Lactivist. Jennifer Laycock mixes stories of her own breastfeeding and pumping experiences with news and advocacy. (And if you’re into funny and in-your-face breastfeeding promotion t-shirts, she’s got them for sale.)
The proposed legislation that would create a penalty for interfering with a mother that is breastfeeding in public got me thinking about the big picture with legislation and breastfeeding. While fear of how other people will react to breastfeeding in public is a barrier for some mothers, there are some other big barriers as well. Right now the legislature and the news are focused on nursing in public and it’s easy to focus on because it’s in plain view…
In the future, we need to break down some other barriers to breastfeeding. Mothers need adequate maternity leave, safe and comfortable places to express milk at work, protection from unethical marketing by formula companies, and custody agreements after divorce that protect breastfeeding as well as a baby’s relationship with the father.
I posted a couple weeks ago about Dane County legislation to protect mothers that are breastfeeding in public. Here is another piece of the story:
On Tuesday, 1/16/07, the Madison Common Council passed legislation to protect mothers that are breastfeeding in public. The ordinance says:
“No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child or expressing breast milk within any public accommodation where the mother would otherwise be authorized to be.”
There may also eventually be laws at the state and national level. Now if we can just make it the culture as well as the law! Smile at the next mother you see breastfeeding in public…
More is happening on the breastfeeding-protection front in Madison and around Wisconsin!
A bill similar to the one passed for Dane County last week is being introduced in the city of Madison. There will be a hearing at the Public Service Review Board on Tuesday, Jan 9, 5 PM in room LL110 of the Municipal Bldg. Robbie Webber is the lead sponsor of the bill. You can contact her at
Ald. Robbie Webber
Madison Common Council, District 5
2613 Stevens St
Madison, WI 53705
608-233-1390 (h)
608-225-0002 (cell)
At the state level, Madison Democrat Fred Risser is planning to introduce a bill that would protect mothers breastfeeding in public places state-wide. He tried to pass this mandate last year but the session ended before the bill got a hearing. I don’t know if this proposal includes protection for women expressing milk.
Of course the fact that women feel like they need their right to breastfeed in public protected is a sad statement on how our society views breastfeeding. If breastfeeding were the accepted, normal way to feed babies no one would think twice when they saw a breastfeeding mother at the mall, the zoo, a restaurant, the gym, the grocery store, church, or a park. I think we should also consider a baby’s need (right?) to breastfeed and how that is affected by short maternity leaves and custody arrangements after divorce. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this - you can leave comments on the page or email me at adria (dot) LAS (at) sbcglobal (dot) net.
