I. . . .can. . .barely. . .choke. . .the. . .words. . .out. But it does seem to be that this study suggests that breast milk doesn’t make your babies smarter.
This is actually a fairly landmark study because it’s the first of its kind (to my knowledge) to suggest that being breastfed doesn’t make the average Joe any smarter.
Up until this point, researchers have sited that breastfed babies, as a group tend to be more intelligent than they’re formula fed counter parts. This study says that babies who are breastfed tend to come from families that have other indicators for academic success such as better educated parents. While breastfed babies did score better on intelligence tests, researchers said it was because they came from home where their mothers were better educated, provided a more stimulating environment, and/or the parents themselves had a higher I.Q.
So what is the key to having a brainy baby? Apparently the best indicator of a child’s I.Q. is mom’s I.Q. Researchers said that in studies comparing breastfed babies to formula fed babies, when mother’s I.Q. is not taken into account, it seems to double the intelligence boosting power of breastfed babies. However, when breastfed babies and formula fed babies are studied with consideration to their own mother’s I.Q., there really is not a statistically significant difference.
I have spoken with many moms who simply reject the idea that breast milk makes their babies smarter. However, there are some important brain boosting powers in breast milk. For example, breast milk is rich in Omega 3’s and other brain building materials. On a side note, if your baby happens to be premature, breast milk contains even more of these brain boosters. In essence it’s nature’s way of boosting tiny preemie brains and helping them develop.
However, what is really interesting to me about this study is that if the findings our accurate, then there is still a big disparity between the types of women that breastfeed. Other studies have suggested that the better educated you are and the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to breastfeed. If this is indeed true in practice, then I believe hospitals, WIC, and other programs need to do more to educate the population regarding breastfeeding.
In any case, we can all keep breastfeeding knowing that we’re giving our babies good food. We’re just not making them any smarter. Now where were those Baby Einstein DVD’s. . .
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