Lenehan, Sonia M.; Boylan, Geraldine B.; Livingstone, Vicki; Fogarty, Leanna; Twomey, Deirdre Marie; Nikolovski, Janeta; Irvine, Alan D.; Kiely, Mairead; Kenny, Louise C.; Hourihane, Jonathan O'B; Murray, Deirdre M.

2019

September

Acta Paediatrica

The impact of short-term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years

Validated

Scopus: 1 ()

Breastfeeding Cognition IQ

Aim: Breastfeeding is associated with IQ, school attendance and income. Despite the known benefits of breastfeeding, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding up to 6-months is low globally. We examined the effect of short-term breastfeeding on long-term IQ. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the prospective Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study, children were categorised as predominantly breastfed (n = 288) versus exclusively formula-fed (n = 254) at 2-months of age. Infants (n = 404) receiving mixed-feeding were excluded. Outcome was assessed using the KBIT II at 5-years. Multivariable linear regression was used to adjust for confounding variables. Results: Following adjustment for confounding variables, children, predominately breastfed at 2-months of age, demonstrated increased overall IQ (2.00 points (95% CI: 0.35 to 3.65) ; p = 0.018) and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age (1.88 points (95% CI: 0.22 to 3.54); p = 0.027) compared to those never breastfed. No significant relationship was found with verbal IQ (p = 0.154). Conclusion: A significant increase in composite and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age was associated with short-term breastfeeding. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that short-term breastfeeding promotes healthy cognitive development.

0803-5253

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apa.15014

10.1111/apa.15014