I just have to add my .02 worth to this issue.  As most of you know, I have
a son with Down Syndrome.  According to the legal/medical definition of
"mental retardation", anyone with an IQ score of 75 or lower is "mentally
retarded."  The cutoff used to be 70, but it was recently raised.  We can
argue all we want about the cultural bias of these tests (yes, it helps
greatly to be an upper middle class white person for some of the questions),
and the link between happiness and IQ (no one I know is happier than my son
Peter, with his IQ of 66), but the fact remains that a 5 to 10 point IQ
score deficit from formula feeding can make a huge impact on a child's life,
depending on where his/her IQ would have fallen to begin with.

IQ, as measured by the tests, is affected by many things, including
genetics, environment, nutrition, and health (a body coping with multiple
bouts of diseases in early childhood simply cannot afford the resources
necessary for brain growth).  All other things being equal, if your IQ
*would have been* 150 if breastfed, and it ends up at 140 because you were
bottle-fed, then it's probably no big deal.  An IQ of 140 is plenty high
enough for 99% of the activities humans do.  Only if you had really hoped to
be an Einstein or a Steven Hawking.........in fact, people with very very
high IQs, in the over 180 range, report a lot of unhappiness coping with a
world in which "everyone else is so stupid."

On the other hand, if your IQ *would have been* 84 if breastfed, and it ends
up at 74 because you were bottle-fed, then this is a VERY BIG DEAL.  The
difference in IQ between 84 and 74 is not only the difference between not
being "mentally retarded" and being so labelled, it may also mean the
difference between being able to squeak by in regular ed classes or needing
to be in special ed classes, or the difference between being able to get a
driver's license or not being able to get a driver's license, or between
being able to live on one's own as an adult or not being able to live
independently.

It isn't that people who were bottle-fed are stupid.  They just aren't as
smart as they would have been had they been breastfed.  And maybe it makes a
functional difference in their life, and maybe it doesn't, but you won't
know that until they've grown up and you see what all the other ingredients
in their life added up to in terms of IQ.  If their genetic inheritance was
for high IQ and their early childhood environment was loving and
stimulating, and they were healthy, then the extra few points from being
breastfed (or the deficit from being bottle-fed) may not have made much of a
difference.  If their genetic inheritance was for low-average IQ and their
early childhood enivronment was not loving and stimulating and they were
sick a lot, then the extra few points from being breastfed (or the extra
deficit from being bottle-fed) may have made a huge difference.  You don't
know ahead of time, so why not err on the safe side, and breastfeed your
baby for at least 2 years, so as to optimize their potential?  Not to
mention all the other benefits of breastfeeding.....

Personally, I think that this is one of the strongest arguments we have to
convince "yuppie" parents to breastfeed.  If it adds to their
"competitiveness throught their children" approach to life, that's
unfortunate, but the bottom line is that those of us who work to promote
breastfeeding want to see all children breastfed, and if the IQ benefit
matters to some and tips the balance in favor of breastfeeding, then use it!
My own sweet Peter was only breastfed for 4 months, because I didn't know
back in 1985 all that I know today.  I don't feel "guilty" about it because
I did the best that I could at the time, given what I knew then, and what
support I had then, but if I had it to do over, you can bet I would have
breastfed him for four years (like my other two kids) and if he couldn't get
the milk out by himself because of his poor muscle tone (related to Down
Syndrome) and his high palate (not related to Down Syndrome) then I would
have pumped and given him expressed milk.  He is doing quite well, with his
IQ of 66, but another 5 or 10 points sure would have made life less
frustrating for him..........and likewise if he hadn't been breastfed at
all, he probably wouldn't be doing as well as he is today.........



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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352