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Breastfeeding has no long-term cognitive impact: Study
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The study found that while those that were breastfed for six months or more had improved problem-solving skills at age 3, there was next to no difference between children by the time they were 5. (Shutterstock/File)
T
o breastfeed or to bottle-feed has been a long standing debate among parents and maternity experts, but this new study might have the answer.
The study, published in Pediatrics, found that while breastfeeding helps newborns fight infections and assists premature babies in getting to the right weight, it does not have much of an impact on long-term cognitive development.
Researchers looked at 7,478 Irish babies born full-term until they were nine months old. The children were then evaluated at three and five years of age. In the first evaluation, at age three, parents were asked questions regarding their child’s vocabulary and problem-solving skills to assess cognition and behavior and were given the same questions in the second evaluation, two years later.
It was found that while those that were breastfed for six months or more had improved problem-solving skills at age 3, there was next to no difference between children by the time they were 5.
Read also: Mother-infant interaction smoothens breastfeeding: Expert
Dr. Brooke Orosz, a professor of mathematics at Essex County College and adviser to the organization Fed is Best, told CNN, "I think [the study] fits well in the body of literature that long-term benefits of breastfeeding look a whole lot smaller if you properly control your confounding variables.”
Orosz, who was not involved in the study, cited that though it did not take into account maternal IQ, the study still considered proxies, such as education level and income
"The easy question -- do kids who are breastfed have better outcomes? The answer is yes. The difficult question is: is it breast milk that improves their cognitive development or is it growing up with parents who are better educated and have higher incomes that makes the difference?" (sul/kes)
