Wednesday, February 26, 2014

To Breastfeed or Not


Many studies have been done to prove the theory that babies that have been breast feed perform better on their IQ tests and in school, but the reasons why have not surfaced. According to the studies done by sociologists at Brigham Young University , two parenting skills are the explanation on why these breast feed babies become such scholars. These skills include Responding to children's emotional cues and reading to children starting at 9 months. Breastfeeding mothers usually do both of those things, said lead study author Ben Gibbs leading to their children excellence. So it's the breast feeding that necessarily cause this, it's the parenting.  The BYU scholars used a national data set that contained 7,500 mothers and their children from birth to five years old that provided information on the home environment, how often the children were read to, and how early they were read to. Also each of the mothers in the study participated in a recorded activity with their children. In this video, each child tried to complete a challenging task, the mother's supportiveness and sensitivity to their child's emotional cues were measured. Child development expert Sandra Jacobson of Wayne State University School of Medicine noted that children in the study who were breastfed for 6 months or longer performed the best on reading portions because they also experienced the most parenting. The BYU researchers note that the children that didn't do so well on their reading assessments were  least likely to receive the optimal parenting in early childhood. The Forste stated that, "Single moms in the labor force, for example, don't have the same luxuries when it comes to breastfeeding and quality time with the children. Parents with less education don't necessarily hear about research-based parenting practices, either. This is the luxury of the advantaged". This study also may suggest that some children from disadvantaged families probably don't perform well on reading assessments.

Posted by Maylissa Charmant

9 comments:

  1. This topic is widely discussed in many of the psychology courses at Umass. Coincidently, your blog post reminds me of the experiment with the monkey and the cloth/wire mother. Do you think there can be something done in order to give single mothers more of a chance with their children?

    Posted by: Lindsey Janof

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    1. There should be a longer paid maternity leave time for single mothers, no matter the job, because it is unfair that the children have to suffer because of the lack of time and nutrition that their mother is able to give them.

      Reply By Maylissa Charmant

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  2. Very interesting! I always thought that breastfeeding and IQ correlated. Definitely makes sense that now that it is the closeness of the mother to the child that is the main factor.

    Alex Sroczynski

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  3. Interesting choice of topic! I wonder if breast feeding will become more popular if more parents read articles like this? It makes sense that mothers who spend more time reading to and breastfeeding their children have a closer connection than those who don't spend much time.

    Amber Vien

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  4. This was a very interesting article.Are children from disadvantage families really at a disadvantage when it comes to schooling? I wonder if they would ever do a study on children living in these circumstances.

    -Chelcie C.

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    1. I personally do think that the children are at a disadvantage and something needs to be done to protect our future. Our children need more aid and assistance.

      Reply By Maylissa Charmant

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  5. I found this post to be really interesting. This is such a good example of correlation vs. causation. In developmental psychology we were discussing the topic of breast feeding, and some parents have learned of studies that indicate it will lead to a higher IQ and decide to breast feed their children until they are 5-7 years old! Kind of crazy in my opinion but what do you think.
    Kristen Whitehead

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  6. I love learning about these type of situations where one thing can influence the behavior of another. It's definitely interesting to see that breastfeeding is correlated with a higher IQ. Not only is breastfeeding important for the overall health of the child, but also influences their IQ. Thanks for sharing this.

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