This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Minimal cognitive benefits gained through breast-feeding
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
No statistically significant cognitive benefits due to breast-feeding were demonstrated by the time children enter school at 5 years, although reduced hyperactivity was noted at younger ages, according to study in Pediatrics.
“The medical benefits of breast-feeding for both mother and child are considered numerous and well documented,” Lisa-Christine Girard, PhD, and colleagues wrote. “Yet the effect of breast-feeding on general cognitive abilities has been a topic of debate for nearly a century. The majority of studies in this field are observational; thus, the casual implications of breast-feeding are questionable given the inherent difficulty in controlling for selection into breast-feeding.”
To explore children’s cognitive and neurocognitive development related to breast-feeding, the researchers randomly selected approximately 8,000 families that participated in the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal infant cohort, among whom breast-feeding information was collected through maternal report. Additionally, parent and teacher reports were used at ages 3 and 5 to collect data regarding problem behaviors, expressive vocabulary and cognitive abilities.
The researchers compared treatment effects on infants that were breast-fed by using propensity score matching.
Although the scores before matching demonstrated that breast-feeding was linked to more beneficial development outcomes on almost every level, the same results were not found when researchers matched scores and compensated for additional tests. Out of the 13 outcomes assessed, hyperactivity at 3 years in children who were breast-fed for at least 6 months was the only one that stayed statistically significant (difference score, –0.84). No outcome at 5 years was significant once scores were matched.
“Without randomized controlled trials, the issue of causality will necessarily remain open; however, the present results contribute important insights to the long-standing debate of potential ‘causal effects’ vs. artifacts of confounding that are not properly accounted for,” the researchers wrote. “This study also provides new perspectives on breast-feeding and children’s externalizing behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is among the first studies to examine expressive vocabulary as an individual outcome and to consider externalizing behavior.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures or conflicts of interest.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts