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While it is true that the IQ effects of breastfeeding are far from clear,
if any exist, the fact that breastfeeding reduces infant exposure to
waterborn bacterial and viral infections should mean that breast-fed
infants have a health advantage. There is some evidence for increased
oral motor strength from breastfeeding. Only a very indirect link
to language, however, from oral motor aspects (not much strength is
needed to produce speech--far more is needed for sucking and swallowing
than for any consonant production). Some evidence links breastfeeding to
lower incidence of malocclusions, that might have speech
effects:<br><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>"Early
weaning may lead to the interruption of proper oral motor development
provoking alterations to the posture and strength of the speech organs
and harming the functions of chewing, swallowing, breathing, and
articulation of speech sounds. The lack of physiological sucking on the
breast may interfere in the oral motor development, possibly causing
malocclusion, oral respiration and oral motor disorders."<br><br>
Neiva et al, J Pediatr (Rio J) 2003;79(1):07-12<br>
Quoted on
<a href="http://www.promom.org/101/" eudora="autourl">http://www.promom.org/101/</a>,
a non-profit promoting breastfeeding. Lists many other reasons why
breastfeeding is superior.<br><br>
<br>
There is also some evidence that pre-term infants have better oxygen
saturation levels and less incidence of apnea during breast than bottle
feeding. (Review available at <br>
<a href="http://www.asha.org/NR/rdonlyres/7BBBE03B-A34C-4052-95A3-742B1EAB11B4/0/v3TRnicu.pdf" eudora="autourl">http://www.asha.org/NR/rdonlyres/7BBBE03B-A34C-4052-95A3-742B1EAB11B4/0/v3TRnicu.pdf<br><br>
</a>The below study found an effect of breastfeeding on oral motor/speech
milestones:<br><br>
<br>
Acta Paediatr. 1999 Dec;88(12):1327-32.
<x-tab> </x-tab><br><br>
Duration of breastfeeding and developmental milestones
during the latter half of infancy.<br><br>
Vestergaard M, Obel C, Henriksen TB, Sorensen HT,
Skajaa E, Ostergaard J.<br><br>
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aarhus
University Hospital, Denmark.<br><br>
Several studies have suggested that breastfeeding has
a long-term influence on brain development. However, interpretation of
these findings is complicated by the presence of many potential
confounding factors. Only a few studies have examined infants before 1 y
of age, although very early assessment might reduce the role of
environmental influence. We investigated the association between
exclusive breastfeeding and three developmental milestones related to
general and fine motor skills and early language development at the age
of 8 mo. We followed 1656 healthy, singleton, term infants, with a
birthweight of at least 2500 g, born between May 1991 and February 1992
in Aarhus, Denmark. Information was collected at 16 wk gestation, at
delivery and when the infant was 8 mo old. Motor skills were evaluated by
measurement of crawling and pincer grip. Early language development was
defined as the ability to babble in polysyllables. The proportion of
infants who mastered the specific milestones increased consistently with
increasing duration of breastfeeding. The relative risk for the highest
versus the lowest breastfeeding category was 1.3 (95% CI: 1.0-1.6) for
crawling, 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1-1.3) for pincer grip and 1.5 (95% Cl: 1.3-1.8)
for polysyllable babbling. Little change was found after adjustment for
confounding. In conclusion, our data support the hypothesis that
breastfeeding benefits neurodevelopment.<br><br>
PMID: 10626516 [PubMed - indexed for
MEDLINE]<br><br>
<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Lynne E. Hewitt, Ph.D., CCC-SLP<br>
Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator<br>
Department of Communication Disorders<br>
251 Health Ctr. Bldg.<br>
Bowling Green State University<br>
Bowling Green, OH 43403-0149<br>
Voice: (419) 372-7181<br>
Fax: (419) 372-8089</font></html>