Originally Posted by Kriston
And while I'm a big fan of breastfeeding whenever it's possible for the mom to do, I'm thinking that a 10% increase in IQ for breast milk and a 10% for moving with the baby seems overstated. I've heard the former cited as fact (though with different numbers) but never with any supporting evidence; the latter is new to me, and I'm not sure I completely buy either one of them.

Breastfeeding and moving with a baby are good for kids. But a 20% cumulative IQ increase? Hmmm... That means a kid with a 120-125 IQ at birth--vanilla GT, though not generally eligible for most GT programs--would be "made" into DYS material. I'm not really buying it.

Exactly. That seems really crazy. If I remember it correctly the bf IQ is much smaller if any. The original studies didn't calculate in other considerations such as that highly educated women are more likely to bf. There is a LLL leader on this board and she said a similar thing. Don't get me wrong I am all for bf, my kids never had formula, but I don't think I would argue IQ as a reason to do so. Also women are more likely to continue bf it they can stay home with their kids and give them one on one attention.

BTW if the above 20% increase was true, then my DYS kid didn't get too much out of the nature part grin The kid lived in Baby Bjorn when he was a baby.

Wren, do you have any links to the studies?

LMom