Researchers from Rovira University in Spain and colleagues at the Virgil Institute studied how breastfeeding during infancy relates to cognitive development later in childhood. The findings were published in the International Journal of Early Childhood.
The study followed a group of preschoolers aged four to five years, drawn from a broader research cohort. The researchers tracked various cognitive indicators and collected information on early feeding histories, allowing for comparisons across groups.
Data came from parent reports and standardized cognitive assessments of 613 children born between 2013 and 2014 to gauge mental abilities in early childhood.
Analysis revealed that children who experienced breastfeeding for a period of one to eight months tended to score higher on multiple cognitive measures than their peers who were not breastfed. The differences were modest but consistent across several tests.
Specifically, breastfed children tended to have higher intelligence quotients, stronger working memory, and better nonverbal reasoning, accompanied by higher scores on a composite cognitive ability index.
The findings point to a direct contribution of breastfeeding to cognitive development, beyond the influence of family background or maternal intelligence.
Earlier researchers developed a new infant formula that was claimed to raise a child”s IQ.