Breastfeeding and development

In the large multi-year PROBIT study, Kramer et al researched they effects of increased breastfeeding upon intellectual development and academic results in 6,5 year olds. A total of 17.000 children born in 31 randomly chosen BFHI certified hospitals, that worked towards increasing incidence, exclusivity, and duration of breastfeeding, and traditional hospitals were enrolled. Children born in hospitals working according to BFHI standards had an increased chance to be exclusively breastfed at 3 months. IQ testing at 6,5 years showed an increased IQ score of 8 points for boys and 7 for girls compared to their counterparts born in non-BFHI hospitals. A very recent, smaller, but well-designed and prospective study by Oddy et al looked at the influence of exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4 months upon developmental milestones in the domains of gross and fine motor skills, adaptability, sociability and communication. Factors adjusted for in multivariable analyses included maternal sociodemographic characteristics, and stressful life events. Good results in these domains will enhance the chances of more complete development of intellectual potential. Oddy and collegues found small, but very significant differences in all studied domains after correction for confounding factors.
Kramer MS, Aboud F, Mironova E, Vanilovich I, Platt RW, Matush L, Igumnov S, Fombonne E, Bogdanovich N, Ducruet T, Collet JP, Chalmers B, Hodnett E, Davidovsky S, Skugarevsky O, Trofimovich O, Kozlova L, Shapiro S; Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial (PROBIT) Study Group: Breastfeeding and child cognitive development: new evidence from a large randomized trial. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 May;65(5):578-84.
Oddy WH, Robinson M, Kendall GE, Li J, Zubrick SR, Stanley FJ: Breastfeeding and early child development: A prospective cohort study. Acta Paediatr. 2011 Feb 7. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2011.02199.x. [Epub ahead of print]