Feeding babies on demand could boost children's cognitive development
Katy Morton
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Babies who are breast-fed or bottle-fed on demand may have a higher IQ and do better at school than those who are fed to a schedule, suggests a new study.
Researchers from the University of Essex and University of Oxford compared the results of IQ tests and SATs results of children aged between five and 14 with data from the Avon Longitudinal study of more than 10,000 children born in the early 1990s.
Mothers who took part in the study were asked when their babies were four-weeks-old whether they fed them according to a schedule or on demand.
The researchers identified three mother and baby pairs: those where the baby was fed to a schedule at four weeks of age, those where the mother tried but did not manage to feed to a schedule, and those that fed on demand.
The findings revealed that at age eight, children who had been demand-fed as babies had an IQ score of four or five points higher than schedule-fed children.
The children of mothers who had tried to feed to a schedule, but did not, had similar higher levels of attainment in SATS tests and IQ scored as demand-fed babies.
Whether a child was bottle or breast-fed made no difference to their overall scores.
Maria Iacovou from the University of Essex, who lead the research, said, ‘Taking into account a wide range of background factors that include parents’ educational level, family income, the child’s sex and age, maternal health and parenting styles, the research finds that demand-feeding is associated with higher IQ scores at age eight, and this difference is also evident in the results of SATs tests at ages five, seven, 11 and 14.
‘The study found that scheduled feeding times did have benefits for the mothers, however, who reported feelings of confidence and high levels of well-being.
‘The difference in IQ levels of around four to five points, though statistically highly significant, would not make a child at the bottom of the class move to the top, but it would be noticeable.
The study, ‘Infant feeding: the effects of scheduled vs. on-demand feeding on mothers’ wellbeing and children’s cognitive development’, is published in the European Journal of Public Health.
Mothers who took part in the study were asked when their babies were four-weeks-old whether they fed them according to a schedule or on demand.
The researchers identified three mother and baby pairs: those where the baby was fed to a schedule at four weeks of age, those where the mother tried but did not manage to feed to a schedule, and those that fed on demand.
The findings revealed that at age eight, children who had been demand-fed as babies had an IQ score of four or five points higher than schedule-fed children.
The children of mothers who had tried to feed to a schedule, but did not, had similar higher levels of attainment in SATS tests and IQ scored as demand-fed babies.
Whether a child was bottle or breast-fed made no difference to their overall scores.
Maria Iacovou from the University of Essex, who lead the research, said, ‘Taking into account a wide range of background factors that include parents’ educational level, family income, the child’s sex and age, maternal health and parenting styles, the research finds that demand-feeding is associated with higher IQ scores at age eight, and this difference is also evident in the results of SATs tests at ages five, seven, 11 and 14.
‘The study found that scheduled feeding times did have benefits for the mothers, however, who reported feelings of confidence and high levels of well-being.
‘The difference in IQ levels of around four to five points, though statistically highly significant, would not make a child at the bottom of the class move to the top, but it would be noticeable.
The study, ‘Infant feeding: the effects of scheduled vs. on-demand feeding on mothers’ wellbeing and children’s cognitive development’, is published in the European Journal of Public Health.
