breastfeeding mothers are intelligent!

[asur]

BBC news story about link between IQ and breastfeeding says that the reason BF babies have higher IQ's is because the mothers who BF are more intelligent!

It's just another pointless study with dodgy results if you ask me but it's still nice to read that all of us who are bfing are actually intelligent! Of course we all knew that anyway, didn't we?!

"It's just another pointless study with dodgy results if you ask me" Do you have any more details about this study? It says it's in the BMJ but not in the latest edition and the new one doesn't come out till friday.

I dont think the BF increases the IQ, but the IQ makes you more likely to BF

I think it's another example of where you can use statistics to prove virtually anything. Intelligence has no bearing on whether or not you breastfeed at all.

heard the author on the radio this morning - he said his studies (in the US) showed that breastfeeding tended to be done by more middle class, better educated women. He said it appeared to have no effect on the baby's IQ per se - just what you would expect through genetics of parents.

He also said that it seems to depend on social trends - eg 30 years ago middle class women did not breastfeed typically.

Also - in scandinavia almost everyone breastfeeds - so that obviously has no relationship to intelligence. He said you can only compare within a country not betwen countries because of policy differences.

He also commented that in Glasgow where he worked the breast feeding rate was particularly low - obviously for local social (fashion etc) reasons.

I'm delighted by this news as ever since I had DS2 who is breastfed, I've felt so guilty that I failed to continue breastfeeding DS1 after the first 4 weeks. Now I just have to come to terms with the fact that I'm dim.

No Robin, you were dim but now^ you're intelligent

Was this research done in the UK only? I bet if they did it in, say, Africa they'd find that intelligence didn't play a part but breastfed babies are black because their mothers tend to be black. Snort!

it was a british study based on children in US... It seems really stupid to read, it's like they've tried to prove that one of the bonuses to bfing is not true but then they tell you you should till bf... hmmm...not gonna help up the bf rates.

I personally think they should stop doing studies like this and use the money more constructively.

Still nice to read that we might be intelligent though! (even if it doesn't feel that way!)

But that's missing the point. The statistics aren't trying to prove that intelligent mothers breastfeed. They're just demonstrating that in this country intelligent women are more likely to breastfeed. Doesn't mean that all women who breastfeed in the UK are intelligent, or that all intelligent women breastfeed.

In the past it has been suggested that breastfeeding might result in higher IQ in children, whereas this study seems to show that the link is genetic.

In other countries, where the social profile of breastfeeding versus non-breastfeeding mothers is different, you will find a different result, which is what Throckenholt explained in her post.

By the way, haven't seen the study, only read the posts, but am assuming it was US/UK only, which have similar profiles for breastfeeding.

I did a very thorough piece of research on my own - namely the IQ quiz on the TV recently. The one before ds1 and 2 I was 13 IQ points (?) higher than I now am. So bf has done my intelligence no good at all...

Don't think the study says the reason breastfeeding is linked to higher IQ in children is genetic. It's saying it's social ie middle classes, who tend to be more educated, have higher rates of breastfeeding and tend to be keen on their children developing the knowledge and skills that help them to do well in IQ tests. Working class people don't have stupid genes! They are just less likely to have higher educational qualifications through lack of opportunity/cultural factors.

I think they were reanalysing previous studies in the US. And saying that there is no link between whether a baby is breast fed or formula fed and it's IQ.

BUT there are all the other benefits to breastfeeding - just not that one.

Edam, the first sentence in the BBC report is: "Breastfed babies are smarter because their mothers are clever in the first place". There are numerous studies on the degree to which intelligence is heritable.

Nobody said working class people had stupid genes.

ah! high IQ has always been listed as one of the benefits of breastfeeding, which you won't be surprised to hear I have been about!

asur - why do you think this is a 'pointless study with dodgy results'. The BMJ are hardly 'fly boys'.

Is this a pointless and dodgy quote from the lead researcher too?

"Mr Der said: "This research shows that intelligence is determined by factors other than breastfeeding.

"But breastfeeding has many benefits for both mother and child. It's definitely the smart thing to do." "

I knew it

Jools - I'm not saying everything said in the study is pointless. The overall study is quite pointless though, whether breastfed children have higher IQ or not, doesn't really make any difference and to spend money trying to determine whether it's true seems a waste of time IMHO.

It's like the study done about 6months ago which determined women aged 20-40 were at most risk of miscarriages. that would be the same age group that are most likely to get pregnant too...

Of course it's not pointless. Other studies have suggested a correlation between breastfeeding and performance in IQ tests. If they were poorly controlled, then their results are unreliable. This paper suggests that when other factors which may influence IQ test performance are controlled, then the correlation isn't seen. So women who didn't breast feed don't have to worry that their children are less intelligent than they would otherwise be. And he concludes by saying that there are many reasons why breastfeeding is the preferable option. Completely unobjectionable I think.

Of course, what IQ tests measure is another question altogether...

I found the piece of research trying to link intelligence with breastfeeding was ridiculous. And now I don't think this research is of much use either, other than providing a counter argument.

Fairly useless research must be one of the current and future boom employment areas. Hope careers advisers are pushing it to the graduate masses.

Totally agree with beckybrastraps.

It's probably in tomorrow's edition of the BMJ www.bmj.com

Did anyone else hear the lady on Radio 5 Live yesterday morning (who had breastfed her own, what's worse) say that breastfeeding in public was "something that really should't happen". REALLY upset me.

Oh, and she said that breastmilk was "just food". So no wonder it didn't make a difference to intelligence. That's who they got onto talk about the experience of breastfeeding. Makes me wonder why she bothered (she said it was due to cost, actually).

So I may as well fruit-shoot mine to their delight, eh?

JT, I don't think that was a dodgy/pointless quote. And I'm quite good at spotting them.

In the past the higher-IQ thing has been given as a reason to b/f, which I have always thought was dodgy. There are plenty of very good reasons to breastfeed.