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?!

There's a whole generation of us, dinosaur!

The higher IQ in previous studies was something like 0.3 points. I obviously didn't need the extra boost from BF. Hang on a minute, I'm still BF my DD, does it mean I think her dad's contribution to the genes...

Me too dinasour! I'm ff ds and both me and dh are intelligent(i'm a nurse, dh an accountant) so we'll seeeeeeeeee

See, Cristina, that's what really annoys me about those "Reasons to Breastfeed" lists - I suppose it wouldn't have had the same effect if they'd said "Breastfeeding your baby could increase their IQ by an average of 0.3 points" though.

here's the article

Completely agree with becky, JT and Pruni- it's not in the least pointless and dodgy, no earthly point in sweeping things under the carpet just because some people would rather believe it to be true. Once the breastfeeding=more intelligent babies stuff had been published then of course it's right to publish a further study if it doesn't turn out to be true. Looks pretty well done from what I can see, whereas the original one was always very marginal.

singersgirl, just because the BBC intro reads 'breastfed babies are smarter because their mothers are more intelligent' doesn't mean that's the whole story. It's an intro, not the full picture. Written by a journalist, not a medical researcher (nothing wrong with that, just that you can't quote that intro as evidence of a research finding, it isn't).

My point was that the link between intelligent parents and intelligent children is not genetic, it's to do with environment. Well-educated parents will try to ensure their children are equally well-educated.

Well, there are quotes from the study further down in the article that say the same thing. But I chose the easiest thing to quote.

But honestly there are lots of studies that prove that a significant part of the variability in intelligence is inherited ie that bright parents have bright children regardless of their affluence or environment. Stephen Pinker et al go into it at some length.

Well-educated isn't the same as intelligent. Not all well-educated people are intelligent and not all intelligent people are well-educated (for example, my FIL).

Edam 'My point was that the link between intelligent parents and intelligent children is not genetic, it's to do with environment. Well-educated parents will try to ensure their children are equally well-educated'.

Actually, I think you'll find that there is plenty of evidence to show that intelligence is both genetic and environmental (generally thought to be about 50:50).

Can I chip in girls, if breast feeding was just food why do babymilk manufacturers try to copy it as closely as they can? Am pretty certain BMJ is a peer reviewed journal and they would not publish said article if it didn't have any merit.Need to look at the hierachy of the research done and wheter it can be repeated and get the same results!