Breastfeeding may not do much for verbal skills

[annettemarie]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/arti...th-C4-Health-2

"The beneficial effects of breastfeeding on children's cognition may emerge only when breastfeeding is done in conjunction with other positive parenting behaviors," write the study authors, led by Dr. Christina Gibson-Davis of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

A number of past studies have linked breastfeeding with higher childhood IQ scores. Certain fatty acids found in breast milk are known to aid nervous system development, and researchers have speculated that this explains the IQ gains.

[hubris]

That still seems - to me, at least - to indicate that breastfeeding does increase a child's potential. But like anything else, a child must be in a nurturing environment to actualize that potential.

Breast is still best. It's not the *only* beneficial thing to do for a child, but it's an important part of the parenting arsenal.

And breastfeeding does help to develop oral musculature in a manner beneficial to articulation skills, doesn't it?

[annettemarie]

I agree. There seems to be a real concentrated effort on the part of the media and scientists to discredit breastfeeding lately.

[hubris]

Maybe it's a lack of critical thinking skills? So often writers have to deal with research reports, yet they have not had experience with research, so they don't know how to interpret it. The whole idea of a child's potential may not make sense to them.

Gotta run...my kiddo wants to raise his potential.

[rmzbm]

I think these researchers were formula fed.

[~*SugarMama*~]

Originally Posted by rmzbm

I think these researchers were formula fed.

I think that *most* researchers are formula fed.

Why is it right now that so many researchers are out there to either discredit breastfeeding or promote the benefits of formula? Yeah, yeah, I know that money is a HUGE issue but still...whatever happened to having a conscious about what you are doing?

[leila1213]

But the advantage nearly disappeared when the researchers factored in the mothers' test scores, suggesting that maternal verbal ability largely explained the breastfeeding benefit

Maybe the moms' of the breastfed babies verbal abilities were better because THEY had been breastfed??

Also, they only judged "breastfed" as having been for at least one month. Maybe if they made the distinction more pronounced, like having been breastfed for at least a year (as the AAP recommends), then they would see a HUGE difference???

[ShaggyDaddy]

Besides the obvious chemical/nutritional benifits, Verbal ability is kind of forced to be more stimulated in a child that MUST be in close proximity to other people all the time. I mean my children are exposed to all kinds of conversations that they would not be exposed to if they were off in a crib in another room with a bottle of liquid french fries oops I mean "liquid gold".

[Mama Poot]

Originally Posted by ~*SugarMama*~

I think that *most* researchers are formula fed.

Why is it right now that so many researchers are out there to either discredit breastfeeding or promote the benefits of formula? Yeah, yeah, I know that money is a HUGE issue but still...whatever happened to having a conscious about what you are doing?

$$$$$$$ Big pharma, big money. All these people make a living off creating and manufacturing a product that seriously threatens the physical and emotional health of babies everywhere. How many thousands of people do you think Nestle employs? How about all the other formula companies? Now they have a vested interest in making sure you don't breastfeed because if mothers everywhere actually USED their breasts, there would be an enormous number of people not getting a paycheck. So all the anti breastfeeding stuff you're seeing does not surprise me one bit. Big formula is getting scared- and they should be.
As for having a conscience, I'm stumped on that one. The only thing I can see blaming it on is too many special interests, too many incentives and promises of more cash for more bogus research. Scientists and doctors are told to say things and believe things that deep down they really don't agree with, but all that support and promise of cash from these big companies is just too tempting.

[jyurina]

There has got to be pressure from the mainstream to normalize what has become a practice despite evidence to the contrary. It would be more helpful if they just accepted it as the norm and could point women to ways that make the nursing relationship optimal . Of course no one makes any money by encouraging this so we are going to continue to have these studies to validate the formulas companies continued marketing. If you can convince moms that there are little to no benefits it makes it easier to market to them.

[nancy926]

Originally Posted by ~*SugarMama*~

I think that *most* researchers are formula fed.

Why is it right now that so many researchers are out there to either discredit breastfeeding or promote the benefits of formula? Yeah, yeah, I know that money is a HUGE issue but still...whatever happened to having a conscious about what you are doing?

Why do you assume they're trying to discredit bfing? They are supposed to be unbiased. I imagine they set up the study to see if bfing had benefits. In this study, it didn't. Does that mean they shouldn't publish the results??

Plenty of studies show that bfing is a good thing. People who are on the fence about bfing aren't going to fall over to the formula side because of this study. Most people don't bf because they say it's too difficult or it doesn't give them enough freedom, or they just couldn't make it work. It has nothing to do with whether their kid will get an extra 8 or 10 IQ points or not.

[velcromom]

"The beneficial effects of breastfeeding on children's cognition may emerge only when breastfeeding is done in conjunction with other positive parenting behaviors," write the study authors, led by Dr. Christina Gibson-Davis of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Well in a way this is a good plug for AP. Now you can say, Positive parenting is known to improve children's verbal development above other parenting styles. Finally researchers are seeing differences in children due to parenting style. About time they paid attention.

And there is no guarantee any researcher is unbiased. They have personal opinions, pressure from peers, pressure from their medical societies, pressure from the system that employs them... And it's always a good idea to dig in and see who funded a study, and what ties those groups have. Can be very interesting.

If putting this information out is an example of unbiased behavior, we'd also be seeing headlines like "Formula Not Supportive of Immune Development" or "Formula Not 'Just As Good' - Study Shows Long Term Health Disadvantages"

But we don't see anything like that in the mainstream media. Even though those kinds of studies do exist they aren't presented to the general public through mainstream media. Biased? I think so.

[*mama moose*]

ugh, I saw this on the news today. They did show a woman breastfeeding, but the reporters made it seem like they were just reporting "its ok, breastfeeding is not really better, go back to feeding formula...." They didn't even report it as "parenting style made a difference", it seemed as if they were saying that most women who breastfeed have high verbal skills so its a coincidence that their kids do(it honestly made me feel like they were saying only rich, "well educated" people breastfeed, in a very non-supportive snooty way...)
anyways, I was saddened, because I saw the woman bfing on the commercial and then was let down when I watched the actual study..

[Sustainer]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

I agree. There seems to be a real concentrated effort on the part of the media and scientists to discredit breastfeeding lately.

I agree! My local news station hardly ever does any actual news stories these days (it's mostly just puff pieces and indirect advertising and non-news), but they were sure to report this particular study! They said that breastfed children do better in school, and I thought, 'Awesome! They're going to promote breastfeeding!' but then they immediately said that it's not the breastfeeding itself that's responsible, but the fact that parents who breastfeed are most likely to have done well in school themselves. I was so mad! Breastfeeding rates have so far to go and breastfeeding needs to be promoted as much as possible and it's such a major health issue, and this kind of news reporting does not help the situation! I was going to post a thread about it but then I forgot about it until I saw this thread.