English 202A

Literature Review

BREAST-FEEDING AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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The question of whether breastfeeding affects child development
has always been open to discussion. Some may argue that there is no
direct relationship between the two, while others happen to think
otherwise. Recently there has been a decline in breastfeeding of
newborns and an incline of formula fed newborns. However, the idea
that breastfeeding improves cognitive development might hold some
truth, which is why it is subjected to such debate. I am exploring this
topic because if breastfeeding does in fact improve cognitive
development, breastfeeding should be encouraged as opposed to
alternative feeding types. This is significant because many new
mothers are not informed on the benefits of breastfeeding or are
misled by the medias portrayal that formula feeding is the normal or
correct way to feed their children. However, since breastfeeding does
improve cognitive development in some children, mothers who are
obliging to not breastfeed are withholding their children from
advancing in their developmental abilities.
Based on the three articles Ive read, Breastfeeding and the Use
of Human Milk, Breastfeeding and Cognitive Development, and

Breastfeeding is Associated with Improved Child Cognitive

Development: A Population- Based Cohort Study, human milk is the
superior form of infant feeding amongst alternative feeding methods
because human milk is species-specific. In simple English, this means

BREAST-FEEDING AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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human milk adapts to the needs of human infants. For example, if the
mother is exposed to bacteria, her milk will contain protection against
that bacterium to prevent harm of the infant. In Gartners article, he
argues that breastfeeding has been associated with slightly enhanced
performance on tests of cognitive development. More specifically, he
proposes the idea that breastfeeding premature children have
significant benefits with the childs mental development. According to
Rogan and Gladen, the method of infant feeding can affect the longterm progress of the child. They found that children who were
breastfed for 4-9 months of their lives had higher intelligence,
performance, and educational quotients, than those children who
were bottle-fed. Similarly, the third scholar, Quigly, used analytical
data to prove that on average breastfed children have an IQ that is
approximately 5 points higher than children who were never
breastfed. This data also showed the significant association between
breastfeeding and premature infants. All three articles agree that

human milk is essential in regards to growth, health, development and

long-term outcomes.
Although the three articles have many similarities, they also
differ in the context of their information. In the article by Gartner, he
not only focused on the benefits received from a breastfeeding child,
but he also addressed conditions in which breastfeeding isnt in the
best interest of the child. For instance, mothers who have untreated
tuberculosis or are HIV positive are encouraged to not breastfeed.
Similarly mothers who are using drugs also shouldnt breastfeed
children. Rogan and Gladen extended their research beyond just
cognitive development but also,

BREAST-FEEDING AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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language development and milestones. They noticed after examining
over 2,000 children at the age of 2 years, that breastfeeding has no
effect on talking or toilet training. The last article by Quigley, differs
because it is analytical, therefore including more detail because its
statistical. For example, a child that was never breastfed, scored a
mean on 106.5 on a vocabulary scale, in comparison to a child who
was breastfed for more than 12 months who scored an 114.2 using the
same scale.
When comparing the three articles, there are collectively, several
missing topics and unanswered questions. Considering that all of the

articles focus on breastfeeding and development in children, its safe

to assume that these scholars examined different types of children.
However, they did not, and that is exactly what these articles are
lacking- variation. How does breastfeeding affect a child with learning
disabilities, or does it have any effect at all? Does breastfeeding have
an affect on children who have physical or medical disabilities? The
articles also lack information on the mothers or parental styles of the
mothers of the children that are observed. For example, intelligence
can often times be genetic. Is a breastfed child born to delinquent
parents going to have the same IQ of a child born to parents with an IQ
as high as Einsteins because of breast milk? Think about the mothers
involvement in the childs development. Compare two children: One
who was bottle-fed with an active mother who helps with the childs
progression and a breast-fed child who had a negligent mother who
did not help with their childs progress. Is the breastfed child still going
to be at the same level of development as the child

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with an over active mother? The three articles lack appropriate control
of their observations. They agree that breast milk does effect cognitive
development but there are loopholes to their assertions.
With this information, pediatricians and other health care
professionals should recommend human milk. Mothers should be

informed by professionals on the benefits of breastfeeding their

children. As stated previously, there are several unanswered questions
about children who have not been observed .The same research that
has ben done, should be extended to those children to allow for more
accurate results.

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Works Cited

 Rogan,W.J.,&Gladen,B.C.(1993).Breastfeedingandcognitive
development.EarlyHumanDevelopment,31(3),181193.
doi:10.1016/03783782(93)90194y
Cramer,M.S.,Chalmers,B.,Hodnett,E.D.,&Sevkovskaya,Z.
(2001).PromotionofBreastfeedingInterventionTrial(PROBIT):A
RandomizedTrialintheRepublicofBelarus.MCN,TheAmerican
JournalofMaternal/ChildNursing,26(4),222.
doi:10.1097/0000572120010700000025
Crase,B.,&LM,G.(2005).BreastfeedingandtheUseofHuman
Milk.Pediatrics,115(2),496506.doi:10.1542/peds.20042491
Ernhart,C.,&Haude,R.(1984).ContentsofimportantPergamon
PressJournals.LifeSciences,34(22),Iii.doi:10.1016/0024
3205(84)903072
Anderson,J.W.,Johnstone,B.M.,&Remley,D.T.(1999).Breast
feedingandCognitiveDevelopment:AMetaanalysis.TheAmerican
JournalofClinicalNutrition.RetrievedFebruary25,2016.

Sources

Anderson, James W., Bryan M. Johnstone, and Daniel T. Remley.

"The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." Breast-feeding and
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Cramer, Michael S., Beverley Chalmers, Ellen D. Hodnett, and
Zinaida Sevkovskaya. "Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial
(PROBIT)." JAMA Network. 24 Jan. 2001. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.

 Crase, Betty. "Gartner LM." Breastfeeding and the Use of Human

Milk. Feb. 2005. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Morrow-Tluck, Mary, Richard H. Haude, and Claire B. Ernhart.
"Contents of Important Pergamon Press Journals." Soc. Sci. Med 26.6
(1988): 635-39. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.