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<font size=3>Leah,<br>
This detailed summary is a remarkable service you just provided to all
childes readers. Thank you.<br><br>
Chris Boyatzis<br><br>
At 06:15 AM 5/4/2006, leah gedalyovich wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear All,<br>
Here is my original question on breastfeeding and language<br>
development. Apologies for the delay in posting the summary.<br><br>
This question came up from a discussion with a friend who is a<br>
lactation consultant. There seems to be a given that breastfeeding
is<br>
better than any other alternative for virtually every aspect of<br>
development. Is there any published research on the relationship<br>
between breastfeeding and language development? If any relationship
is<br>
found is it attributed to nutritional issues or to other issues<br>
(emotional, sensori-motor, etc)<br><br>
I received many more responses than I expected. Thank you to all who<br>
took the time to answer Anat Ninio, Natasha Ringblom, J. Tomblin,<br>
Katherine Demuth, Nina Capone, Carolyn Bick-Gengler, Katie Alcock,
Peg<br>
Lahey, Lynne Hewitt, Jim Morgan, and Ruth. My apologies if I have<br>
unintentionally left anyone out. Here is my summary:<br><br>
Some people consider suggested that any relationship between<br>
breastfeeding and language development would be related to emotional<br>
issues (Katherine Demuth) with either positive effects, e.g.
Natasha<br>
Ringblom's personal experience of her breastfed children acquiring<br>
Swedish and Russian, or likely negative effects or possible negative<br>
effects from pressure on mothers to breastfeed (anat ninio with a<br>
reference to an article in the Israeli paper Haaretz about the<br>
non-effects of breastfeeding on practically anything, starting with<br>
infant health and continuing with intelligence. The URL is
below.<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=507898&contrassID=2&subContrassID=2&sbSubContrassID=0" eudora="autourl">
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=507898&contrassID=2&subContrassID=2&sbSubContrassID=0</a>
<br><br>
<br>
There were some suggestions of positive oral motor development<br>
connected with breastfeeding in typically and non-typically
developing<br>
breastfed children:<br><br>
Carolyn Buck-Gengler's account of her extra motivation for<br>
breastfeeding her (still pre-verbal) two year old son born with
Down's<br>
Syndrome, likely improved oral motor strength suggested by<br>
occupational and physiotherapists.<br><br>
Actual research papers deal with breastfeeding as a protective
factor:<br>
Breastfeeding is seen as protecting against the developmental
langauge<br>
impairments ... breastfeeding was a protective factor and the longer<br>
the breastfeeding the better the effect. The reference being<br>
D.L. Drane, D. L. & Logemann, J. (2000). A critical
evaluation of<br>
the evidence on the association between type of infant feeding and<br>
cognitive development. Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology,
14 349<br>
And an earlier reference on prenatal and infancy risk factors for
SLI<br>
at 6 years of age that included retrospective information on<br>
breastfeeding. When mother's education was controlled
breastfeeding<br>
was a significant protective factor for language outcome (odds
ratio=<br>
0.5). We also found that there was a dose effect in that
longer<br>
periods of breastfeeding had a stronger effect than shorter periods.<br>
Tomblin, J. B., Smith, E., & Zhang, X. (1997). Epidemiology of<br>
specific language impairment: Prenatal and perinatal risk factors.<br>
Journal of Communication Disorders, 30, 325-344.<br>
Specifically the positive effects of nutrition ( long-chain fatty<br>
acids) have been investigated:<br>
Willatts, P., Forsyth, J. S. DiModugno, M. K., Varma, S., &
Colvin,<br>
M.(1998). Effect of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in infant<br>
formula on problem solving at 10 months of age. Lancet, 35 (9129),<br>
688-691.<br>
But these positive effects may not be specific to language
development<br>
and in fact may show only in non-language areas.<br>
When there is control for any "bonding" or SES effects of<br>
breastfeeding - an effect on some types of cognitive behaviour
is<br>
shown in preverbal infants (e.g. problem solving in the above
study).<br>
However other studies with similar designs have shown no effect on<br>
language of supplemented formula. e.g.<br>
Auestad, N., Scott, D. T., Janowsky, J. S., Jacobsen, C., Carroll,
R.<br>
E., Montalto, M. B., et al. (2003). Visual, cognitive, and language<br>
assessments at 39 months: A follow-up study of children fed formulas<br>
containing long-chain olyunsaturated fatty acids to 1 year of age.<br>
Pediatrics, 112(3), E177-E183.<br>
Birch, E. E., Garfield, S., Hoffman, D. R., Uauy, R., & Birch, D.
G.<br>
(2000). A randomized controlled trial of early dietary supply of
long<br>
chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and mental development in term<br>
infants. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 42(3), 174 181.<br>
(with thanx to Katie Alcock)<br>
In full term infants exclusively breastfed for at least 3 mos, their<br>
ability to discriminate nonnative phonetic contrasts at 9 months was<br>
related to their levels of DHA fatty acids at 2mos:<br>
Innis, S. M., Gilley, J., & Werker, J. (2001). Are human milk<br>
long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids related to visual and neural<br>
development in breast-fed term infants? Pediatrics, 139(4), 532-538.
'<br><br>
A previous paper identified a relation between fatty acids and vocabulary
size.<br>
Scott, D. T., Janowsky, J. S., Carroll, R. E., Taylor, J. A.,
Auestad,<br>
N., MOntalto, M. B. (1998). Formula supplementation with long-chain<br>
polyunsaturated fatty acids: Are there developmental benefits?
Pediatrics, 102, E59-64.<br><br>
(with thanx to Ruth)<br>
And thanx to Peg Lahey for this link:<br>
For a review of some literature prior to 2004 that includes this topic
see<br>
the Bamford-Lahey Children's Foundation website
<a href="http://www.bamford-lahey.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.bamford-lahey.org</a>.<br>
The focus of the review is essential fatty acids but it includes
some<br>
discussion of breastfeeding and development. It was completed in
2002<br>
and updated in 2003.<br><br>
For direct access, click on first link below and then click section
on<br>
infant development; for update click on 2nd link. There is
some<br>
support re vocabulary and verbal IQ and some suggestion that there
may<br>
be a nutritional component related to the higher amount of omega3<br>
fatty acids found in breast milk vs. formula as it was constituted
at<br>
the time [some changes recently].<br><br>
<a href="http://bamford-lahey.org/lipidsrev102.html#LIPIDS " eudora="autourl">
http://bamford-lahey.org/lipidsrev102.html#LIPIDS </a> for original
paper<br>
<a href="http://www.bamford-lahey.org/update.html%A0" eudora="autourl">
http://www.bamford-lahey.org/update.html </a> for a short update in
2003.<br><br>
Still other research suggests positive effects of breastfeeding as<br>
secondary to improved health:<br><br>
A substantial number of articles in the pediatric literature report
that<br>
reduced incidence of otitis media is associated with breastfeeding. This
is<br>
probably due to a combination of factors including antibodies passed to
the<br>
child through breast milk and the increased mechanical load in<br>
breastfeeding relative to bottle feeding, which promotes drainage of
the<br>
Eustachian tubes (infants' Eustacian tubes are narrower and more
horizontal<br>
than adults'). There is at least a weak relation between incidence of
OME<br>
in infancy and phonological and lexical measures of language
development.<br><br>
-- Jim Morgan<br><br>
While it is true that the IQ effects of breastfeeding are far from<br>
clear, if any exist, the fact that breastfeeding reduces infant<br>
exposure to waterborn bacterial and viral infections should mean
that<br>
breast-fed infants have a health advantage. There is some evidence
for<br>
increased oral motor strength from breastfeeding.<br><br>
"Early weaning may lead to the
interruption of proper oral<br>
motor development provoking alterations to the posture and strength
of<br>
the speech organs and harming the functions of chewing, swallowing,<br>
breathing, and articulation of speech sounds. The lack of<br>
physiological sucking on the breast may interfere in the oral motor<br>
development, possibly causing malocclusion, oral respiration and
oral<br>
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<br>
breastfeeding. Lists many other reasons why breastfeeding is<br>
superior.<br><br>
There is also some evidence that pre-term infants have better oxygen<br>
saturation levels and less incidence of apnea during breast than<br>
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</a>
<br><br>
The below study found an effect of breastfeeding on oral
motor/speech<br>
milestones:<br><br>
Acta Paediatr. 1999 Dec;88(12):1327-32. Duration of
breastfeeding<br>
and developmental milestones during the latter half of infancy.<br>
Vestergaard M, Obel C, Henriksen TB, Sorensen HT, Skajaa E,
Ostergaard<br>
J. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aarhus University<br>
Hospital, Denmark.<br><br>
Several studies have suggested that breastfeeding has a
long-term<br>
influence on brain development. However, interpretation of these<br>
findings is complicated by the presence of many potential
confounding<br>
factors. Only a few studies have examined infants before 1 y of age,<br>
although very early assessment might reduce the role of
environmental<br>
influence. We investigated the association between exclusive<br>
breastfeeding and three developmental milestones related to general<br>
and fine motor skills and early language development at the age of 8<br>
mo. We followed 1656 healthy, singleton, term infants, with a<br>
birthweight of at least 2500 g, born between May 1991 and February<br>
1992 in Aarhus, Denmark. Information was collected at 16 wk
gestation,<br>
at delivery and when the infant was 8 mo old. Motor skills were<br>
evaluated by measurement of crawling and pincer grip. Early language<br>
development was defined as the ability to babble in polysyllables.
The<br>
proportion of infants who mastered the specific milestones increased<br>
consistently with increasing duration of breastfeeding. The relative<br>
risk for the highest versus the lowest breastfeeding category was
1.3<br>
(95% CI: 1.0-1.6) for crawling, 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1-1.3) for pincer
grip<br>
and 1.5 (95% Cl: 1.3-1.8) for polysyllable babbling. Little change
was<br>
found after adjustment for confounding. In conclusion, our data<br>
support the hypothesis that breastfeeding benefits
neurodevelopment.<br><br>
PMID: 10626516 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]<br><br>
(with thanx to Lynne Hewitt)<br><br>
And to summarize: the picture is still far from clear, for positive<br>
effects for language development and even for general cognitive and<br>
emotional development, but there is a growing body of controlled<br>
research which we can expect will clarify the situation and aid
our<br>
decision making for ourselves and for advising others. Thanx again,<br>
Leah<br><br>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Chris J. Boyatzis, Ph.D.<br>
Associate Professor of Psychology<br>
Department of Psychology<br>
Bucknell University<br>
Lewisburg PA 17837<br><br>
Office phone: 570.577.1696<br>
FAX 570.577.7007<br>
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