Study shows why breastfed babies are so smart

It doesn't appear that this study shows that all the results come from the interaction between the mother and child. They would have to have a large group of children who were breastfed but did not receive better social interactions in order to compare them with those who had both.

http://news.byu.edu/archive14-feb-emotionalparenting.aspx

Brigham Young University
February 26, 2014
Media Contact: Joe Hadfield

Loads of studies over the years have shown that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests and perform better in school, but the reason why remained unclear.

Is it the mother-baby bonding time, something in the milk itself or some unseen attribute of mothers who breastfeed their babies?

Now a new study by sociologists at Brigham Young University pinpoints two parenting skills as the real source of this cognitive boost: Responding to children’s emotional cues and reading to children starting at 9 months of age. Breastfeeding mothers tend to do both of those things, said lead study author Ben Gibbs.

“It’s really the parenting that makes the difference,” said Gibbs. “Breastfeeding matters in others ways, but this actually gives us a better mechanism and can shape our confidence about interventions that promote school readiness.”

Gibbs authored the study with fellow BYU professor Renata Forste for the March issue of The Journal of Pediatrics. According to their analysis, improvements in sensitivity to emotional cues and time reading to children could yield 2-3 months’ worth of brain development by age 4 (as measured by math and reading readiness assessments).

“Because these are four-year-olds, a month or two represents a non-trivial chunk of time," Gibbs said. “And if a child is on the edge of needing special education, even a small boost across some eligibility line could shape a child’s educational trajectory.”

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The BYU researchers note that the most at-risk children are also the least likely to receive the optimal parenting in early childhood. Single moms in the labor force, for example, don’t have the same luxuries when it comes to breastfeeding and quality time with the children. Parents with less education don’t necessarily hear about research-based parenting practices, either.

“This is the luxury of the advantaged,” Forste said. “It makes it harder to think about how we promote environments for disadvantaged homes. These things can be learned and they really matter. And being sensitive to kids and reading to kids doesn’t have to be done just by the mother.”