Breastfed babies are more intelligent

The benefits of breastfeeding are well known; boosting a baby’s health and immune system, helping fight stomach bugs, ear infections, diseases and asthma. It has also been shown to protect mothers from breast and ovarian cancer later on in life, not to mention assisting in losing weight gained in pregnancy by burning 500 calories a day.

Here in Britain we have one of the worst breastfeeding rates in Europe with twenty per cent of new mothers never even trying, compared with two per cent in Sweden.

Surprisingly, despite the many benefits and government campaigns eagerly promoting the advantages of breastfeeding, only three per cent of mums breastfeed for the recommended six month period.

Health benefits aside, little has been known about the effects it may have a baby’s intelligence.

Now, researchers have found children who are breastfed do better at reading, writing and maths at age five, seven, eleven and fourteen. Just four weeks on their mothers’ milk can have a 'significant' effect on their development in primary and secondary school.

A study, carried out by researchers from Oxford University and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, examined test scores of pupils from similar social backgrounds (such as parents income and job) who were breastfed at four weeks old and those who had been fed a formula milk.

They discovered that even though the pupils had similar upbringings, those breastfed repeatedly did better in reading writing and maths at both primary and secondary school levels.

“Breast milk has well-known health benefits and now we can say there are clear benefits for children's brains as well” said Maria Iacovou, a social scientist at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and one of the authors of the study.

“I think we have a lot of challenges to change our culture and attitudes to breastfeeding but it's likely to happen through a gradual process. Women who don't want to breastfeed shouldn’t be pressured, but we should focus more on those women who do want to and try to help them pull it off and make it more normal for everyone.”

Here in Britain we have one of the worst breastfeeding rates in Europe with twenty per cent of new mothers never even trying, compared with two per cent in Sweden. Just three per cent breastfeed for the recommended six months, and only a third are still breastfeeding their babies after a week.