Breastfeeding may promote intelligence , according to the Archives of General Psychiatry .
In a pioneering study of 14,000 Belarusian babies, an international team of scientists has found that children who are breastfed for longer, and who do not mix breast milk with artificial milk, achieve higher scores on intelligence tests up to six years old. Specifically, breastfeeding was associated with 5 percent higher scores on IQ tests, as well as better academic results .
Previous research had already suggested better brain development in breastfed babies, but scientists were unable to discern how much the mother's attitude was influencing. "It could be because breastfeeding takes longer, the mother interacts more with the baby , you talk to him," proposes Michael Kramer, a researcher at Montreal Children's Hospital (Canada) and co-author of the new study. Although it is also possible that it is "an emotional or physical issue, a hormone or even something different in the milk that the child absorbs".
