There is no evidence to suggest that breastfeeding delays speech. There's a
nice kellymom.com page summarizing some of the research:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/speech-development.html
All the studies cited there show either a positive effect of breastfeeding or
no discernible effect. There are some newer studies that aren't on the
Kellymom page as well:
Gibson-Davis, C.M., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2006). Breastfeeding and verbal ability
of 3-year-olds in a multicity sample. Pediatrics, 118, 1444-1451. (My
synopsis: measurable effect of breastfeeding on vocab, attenuated but still
there with control for maternal factors, more pronounced among more educated
mothers)
Dee, D.L., Ruowei, L., Lee, L., Grummer-Strawn, L.M. (2007). Associations
between breastfeeding practices and young children's language and motor
development. Pediatrics, 119(Suppl 1), S92-S98. "Our findings suggest
breastfeeding may protect against delays in young children's language and
motor skill development." Apparent dose-related effect on maternal concern,
also.
Oddy, W.H. (2006). Fatty Acid Nutrition, Immune and Mental Health Development
from Infancy through Childhood. In J.D. Huang Ed., Frontiers in Nutrition
Research, (pp. 177-211). New York: Nova Science. Oddy found a significant
positive association between duration of breastfeeding and communication
ability during the first three years and also reported that breastfed
children scored higher on a measure of vocabulary skill at age 10.
For children vulnerable to specific language impairment, breastfeeding appears
to have a protective effect that persists after rigorous covariate control.
(See Tomblin, J.B., Smith, E., & Zhang, X. (1997). Epidemiology of specific
language impairment: prenatal and perinatal risk factors. Journal of
Communication Disorders, 30(4), 325-344; their data were re-analyzed in an
unpublished doctoral dissertation that found the effect to be robust. I have
details if anyone wants them but this is getting long.)
Jamie Mahurin Smith, MA, CCC-SLP, IBCLC
doctoral student researching this very topic :-)
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