Does breastfeeding influence babies intelligence?

New research challenges previous findings that indicate that breastfeeding is linked to higher IQ levels.  This large study which tested children’s IQs between the ages of 2 and 16 concluded that IQ scores are not significantly influenced by breastfeeding and that differences are far more likely to be due to other long term factors such as children’s family background and their schooling.

RCM professional policy advisor Janet Fyle, was keen to highlight that breastfeeding has been shown to have many other advantages.  She said that breastfeeding has “many positive benefits for a child’s health and wellbeing in both the short and longer term” and that is therefore still recommended by the RCM.

Read the research summary here

An RCM article on the research may be viewed here