Breast-feeding may boost children's IQ

[Sequoia]

A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said.

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.

About half the 14,000 babies were randomly assigned to a group in which prolonged and exclusive breast-feeding by the mother was encouraged at Belarussian hospitals and clinics. The mothers of the other babies received no special encouragement.

Those in the breast-feeding encouragement group were, on average, breast-fed longer than the others and were less likely to have been given formula in a bottle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24482257/

[Deja Q]

1. So, lick a boob and not become a boob?

Okey dokey.

[kwassa]

6. I believe the proper terminology is "suck a boob"

Licking, while stimulating, might not produce the milk.

[LeftyMom]

2. Breastfeeding is the default human infant feeding behavior.

Studies like this should be phrased to reflect that, instead of making breastfeeding sound like some special bonus. It isn't that breastfeeding makes for smarter babies, it's that formula makes for babies who are, on average, a bit slower.

Formula should have a warning label, since it's known to be associated with lower IQ, higher risk of allergies, higher risk of death in the first year, higher diabetes rates in adulthood... Oh, and not breastfeeding is associated with higher cancer risk for the mother.

[Fran Kubelik]

3. Well said

:thumbsup:

[electron_blue]

7. Good point.

Pitching it otherwise in the media makes it sounds like some new-fangled idea that improves on formula.

[guitar man]

4. I don't doubt it

My daughter was breast fed and now, at age 2 years and 4 months, she is so smart it is scary. I have never seen a 2 year old that can carry on a conversation like she can....makes more sense than many adults I've talked to lately....

[kwassa]

5. Only if it is done at Olive Garden

anywhere else, the brain cells fly away.

[BarenakedLady]

8. Damn, what happened to my kids...?

I breastfed them all FOREVER...and they are pretty average. I must have st00pid milk.

;)














edited to add my children are awesome geniuses, ok not really, but yeah. :P

[Guava Jelly]

9. What does it do for adults?

I am willing to help with the research on this. :evilgrin:

[yellowcanine]

11. Makes them go blind and grow hair on their lips.

[Guava Jelly]

15. If other things haven't made me go blind, I can survive Mothers milk

:D

[KitchenWitch]

12. ...

:spank:

[Guava Jelly]

16. Why is that one boob hiting the other boob with a stick?

:silly:

[flvegan]

13. Beat me to it.

:thumbsup:

[Guava Jelly]

17. We should see if we could get a research grant

(And a couple dozen buxom mama's to research on)
..I won't tell eftylay ommay :evilgrin:

[flvegan]

18. In the name of science.

That's a grand idea. We'd need a vast array of subjects, of all shapes and ahem...sizes.

[Guava Jelly]

19. I agree Dr. Flvegan

For science,for America (And for my own perverted reasons).:D

[yellowcanine]

10. Dang, I think I should sue my mom. Think of how much smarter I could have been if she had

breast fed me.

[PassingFair]

14. True, my children's heads were enormous!