Hello, my name is Brandie I am currently attending the University of North
Dakota and am a junior nursing student enrolled in a maternal child
course.
I have been doing research on the nurse’s role in influencing new moms
who are unsure of breastfeeding to try it. I have read some articles on
breastfeeding and IQ. Every mom wants their child to be intelligent
right?
A study done with 220 SGA and 299 AGA infants born at full term suggests
that infants born at full term scored an average of 11 points higher on
cognitive tests if they were exclusively breastfed at least for the first
6 months of life (Cockey, 2002). Pretty impressive!!
These infants were evaluated at birth, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9
months, and 13 months of age. Many thoughts on babies born SGA are to
start them on supplements to aid with growth but according to Rao,
Hediger, Levine, Naficy, & Vik(2002), this is untrue. These authors found
that the babies growth was the same between exclusively breastfed and some
times even better than those babies who were supplemented before the age
of 6 months. Jacobson and Jacobson (2002), suggest that even children
breastfed for more than 12 weeks benefited cognitively from exclusively
being fed breast milk. In fact, children who were breastfed averaged 3-4
points higher on cognitive tests than those children who were formula fed.
Smith, Durkin, Hinton, Bellinger, and Kuhn (2003), suggest that improved
cognitive and academic performance was even higher when they studied
babies who were of low birth weight. They state that the DHA in breast
milk benefits neurological development. The also conclude that those
babies who showed cerebral lesions on ultrasound benefited greatly from
breastfeeding.
There has been some discussion on whether the mother’s intelligence and
socioeconomic status contribute to their child’s IQ? Factors discussed
were things such as; mothers who are more intelligent have better access
to the benefits of breastfeeding and are therefore more apt to breastfeed
and women who are not of poverty status could better provide a more
cognitively stimulating environment for their children. The same study
conducted by Rao, Hediger, Levine, Naficy & Vic (2002), concluded that the
mother's intelligence and socioeconomic status had minor effects on the
child's IQ when the children were tested at 5 years of age.
My question is can I use this information as an incentive for mothers to
breastfeed their babies? Why or why not? And have you used this
information in your practice to help mothers make a decision about
breastfeeding?
Thank You,
Brandie SN
Cockey, C.D. (2002, June/July). Undersize Infants Score Higher IQ If
Breastfed Exclusively. AWHONN Lifelines. 6(3). 2.
Jacobson, S.W. & Jacobson J.L. (2002). Breastfeeding and IQ: Evaluation of
the Socio-Environmental Confounders. Acta Paediatricia. 91. 258-266.
Rao, M.R., Hediger, M.L., Levine, R.J., Naficy, A.B., & Vik, T. (2002.
Effect of Breastfeeding on Cognitive Development of Infants Born
Small For Gestational Age. Acta Paediatricia. 91. 267-274.
Smith, M.M., Durkin, M., Hinton, V.J., Bellinger, D., & Kuhn, L. (2003.
Influence of Breastfeeding on Cognitive Outcomes at age 6-8Years:Follow
up of Very Low Birth Weight Infants. American Journal of Epidemiology. 158
(11). 1075-1082.
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