It is generally assumed that breast milk is some sort of magical elixir that will guarantee a smart and healthy baby, increasing pressure on mums too breast feed under any circumstances. But now a comprehensive study has made a claim about breast milk that could change how we feel about breastfeeding forever.
The study has found that breast milk does not improve your baby’s IQ.
The Twins Early Development Study (Teds) conducted by Dr Sophie von Stumm and Dr Robert Plomin at Goldsmiths, University of London looked at the development of 5,791 sets of twins. 62 per cent of whom were breast fed for four months, while the remaining 38 per cent were bottle fed.
They were trying to figure out which impacts a child more - nature or nurture.
The twins underwent cognitive ability between the ages of two and 16 and while the girls in the group had slightly higher IQs than the boys, that evened out by the time the reached 16.
Dr von Stumm told Express that a child's IQ was more likely to be influenced by their family and education, however stopped short of completely writing the advantages of breast milk off all together.
"While our study does not indicate a link between breast-feeding and intelligence, breast-feeding potentially has other benefits, for example for the autoimmune system," Dr von Stumm said.
Then she said something that will be a huge comfort to mums who choose not to breast feed. She said that mothers can stop thinking they are hurting their kids by not breast feeding, or not being able to breast feed.
"It won’t cost your child a chance of a university degree," she said.
This goes against previous studies that found the opposite to be true, increasing pressure on mums to breast feed no matter what their circumstances or abilities. However previous research is thought to be problematic due to small sample sizes and a lack of regular assessment of subjects over a long period of time.
Would the findings influence your choice to breastfeed?