Breast is Best

A study of 6,000 breast fed babies in Brazil following 3,500 of them through to 30+ years has produced evidence that breast fed babies across a whole spectrum, in a sample where bias from other factors has been taken into account, perform better in IQ tests and have greater earning potential.

What perhaps is at least as interesting as the headline statistic is what might be the underlying reason.  The report does not go on to give any hard evidenced view on the reason although does allude to the brain development advantages of the long chain poly unsaturated fatty acids essential for brain growth found in a mothers’ milk.

What is surprising is that there is no mention of the importance of breast feeding in forming the initial bond between mother and baby and the reinforcing of this day by day the longer the breast feeding persists.  The importance of this to the understanding of the baby that it has worth and value can be essential, it is argued, to the realisation of it’s full potential in it’s subsequent life.  This bond creates endorsement, valuing and belief in the self of the developing brain and creates the environment from which that baby may have the ability to fulfil it’s latent potential.

Breast feeding does not just give the best protection against initial biological threats but arguably the best start in a life for the whole of life.

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