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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
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Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:47:14 -0500
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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unpublished doctoral dissertation that found the effect to be robust.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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