Breastfeeding and Intelligence.

Emeline Brennan

PYSC PDE

Breastfeeding newborns and infants is a natural and  normal function.  But what happens when mothers continue to breastfeed  way past the age that is considered normal? Or what about those mothers who choose not to breastfeed at all? There are studies that link breastfeeding and intelligence, so where is the line to be drawn?

In an article by Kanazawa Satoshi, the author discusses how breastfeeding might and might not be related to the intelligence of a child. She first identifies the issue as somewhat controversial and widely debated. Although there is no "right" way to breastfeed or for how long into a child's development, studies have shown that children who are breastfed are believed to have a higher intelligence level than those who are not. Satoshi further indicates that studies have  shown that mothers doing the breastfeeding actually may be more intelligent than mothers who do not breastfeed their children. (Satoshi, Pg 1)

The author, however cautions that there may not be a direct and scientifically proven correlation between breastfeeding and more intelligent children. However, there is a direct correlation between infants health and breastfeeding, especially in meeting the infant's nutritional needs.  Breastfeeding gives infants an advantage on their health. The mothers producing milk at no cost lets even low income mothers have a healthy, well-fed infant. Studies show that an infant being breastfed is also less likely to have developmental problems. (Satoshi, Pg 1)

In this article, Kanazawa Satoshi highlights a study done in the United Kingdom on Breastfeeding and intelligence. This study focused on using Cognitive tests and many variables trying to extract the intelligence factor. This article talks about how it's hard to directly relate intelligence to breastfeeding even in this study because there is to many outside factors that could play a part in the intelligence of a child. (Satoshi, Pg 1)

However, the study did find that breastfeeding, when isolated as a factor, seems to have an effect on a child's intelligence. Between the ages of 7 and 16, outside factors have more of an affect on a child's intelligence. For example, the social class and the parents educational status do affect a child's intellectual growth. If a child is being raised in a lower class setting, they might have to be more focused on problems outside of school. If a child is growing up with uneducated parents they might not be able to get as much from those parents as they would if their parents were educated. (Satoshi, Pg 1)

Overall, there is no direct link between breastfeeding and a child's intelligence. We do however, know that it's boosts a child's health and that by itself has a big impact on development.

Kanazawa, S. (2015). Breastfeeding is positively associated with child intelligence even net of

parental IQ. Developmental Psychology, 51(12), 1683-1689. doi:10.1037/dev0000060