Breast-feeding has been associated with weight loss in moms and reduced risk of asthma in kids. Now, a recent study on Science Daily says that breast-feeding may affect a child's verbal and nonverbal intelligence.
Together with her colleagues, researcher Mandy B. Belfort, M.D., M.P.H., of Boston Children's Hospital gave their young participants visual and verbal intelligence tests.
They found that those who were nurtured longer by their mothers had better receptive language scores at three years old and higher levels of verbal and nonverbal intelligence at seven years old as compared with those who were not.
"Our results support a causal relationship of breastfeeding in infancy with receptive language at age three and with verbal and nonverbal IQ at school age. These findings support national and international recommendations to promote exclusive breastfeeding through age six months and continuation of breastfeeding through at least age one year," the authors explain.
(Photo by woodleywonderworks via Flickr Creative Commons)
