Baby Development – McGill University Study Suggests Breastfeeding Associated with Increased Intelligence

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

Mum Mum’s has reported numerous studies examining the benefits of breastfeeding.  The health benefits of breastfeeding have been well documented, but can breastfeeding actually make your baby smarter?  A new study shouts a resounding yes.

In the largest ever randomized study of breastfeeding, researchers found nursing may raise babies’ IQ’s and improve academic performance.  Led by Dr. Michael Kramer, Professor of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill University, researchers found that exclusive and prolonged breastfeeding makes kids smarter. Dr. Kramer points out that this is the strongest evidence to date that breastfeeding benefits a child’s intellectual development. 

The researchers examined children in 31 Belarusian clinics and hospitals.  Divided into 2 groups, half the mothers underwent extra encouragement and education advocating exclusive breastfeeding; while the other half followed their typical hospital and outpatient maternity care.  The group that did not receive any extra attention provided the researchers with an unbiased measure of the affects of breastfeeding on the baby’s cognitive development.

IQ tests were given to the children’s pediatricians and teachers as a means to assess cognitive ability, with ratings given on performance in writing, reading, mathematics, and other subjects.  All measurements were significantly higher for the children whose mothers underwent the breastfeeding promotion intervention.

Dr. Kramer notes that the effects breastfeeding has on a child’s intelligence has been an avidly debated topic, and that previous studies had been based on association alone- until this study that is.  While breastfeeding rates have continued to climb over the past few years, little progress has been made in increasing the exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding.  The authors hope this study will provide further incentive for nursing mothers to continue breastfeeding for several months after the baby is born.

Resource:
McGill University (2008, May 6). Breastfeeding Associated With Increased Intelligence, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 11,