Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion breastfeeding and IQ

So which came first the chicken or the egg?
Are kids who are higher iq disproportionately receiving breast milk?
Or are more high iq moms choosing to breastfeed?

So much easier than sterilizing bottles, mixing formula, warming, especially in the wee hrs--oftentimes I'd sleep through it (semi-conscious state) & DH loved that he was never expected to get up for babies (not equipped).

Cym, I remember the semi-conscious state at night. I too slept through most of the night feedings.

I breastfed DS4 until he was about 2.5 i think. We found out when he was 1 that he was allergic to dairy, and we tried to give him every type of nondairy drink known to mankind, and he would have none of it (until about 2.5). Also, I am a very lazy person, and I wasn't working outside the home at the time, so it was much easier to BF. I think DS had about 5 bottles in his life. And pumping was just such a drag. Funny thing, when DS was 2, he asked me "what's that?" pointing to something a kid had in our early childhood class. It was a baby bottle. I was a wee bit embarrassed that he didn't know what a bottle was!

Neither DH nor I were breastfed. I'm guessing we're both upper end of MG, but who knows.

It's hard to say about the chicken and the egg -- I think back to when my mom, who was an RN, was told and believed that forumla would be better. As a smart person, she went with what she thought was best available option at the time.

My dd was a premie. As a result she barely opened her eyes for the first month and slept thru the night (and most of the day for the first month) since the day she was born.

Since she wasn't eating much my milk dried up fairly soon (4 or 5 months). I remember going to my doctor for follow ups and when I asked her if I should wake her up for feedings at night she told me I was crazy. Her exact words "Do you know what most mothers would do to be that lucky?"

She didn't like formula very much either, so she started eating solid food fairly early.

I breastfed DD9 until she was (exhausted mom...) 3.5. I was adopted so never breastfed. I think that the wanting to BF forEVER was the same safety thing that I still see with DD about "I'm super-independent ..until I 'm not."

Kriston, Kriston

The whole darn family is keyed to no displays of emotional extravageance!

I am so impressed in my Restate!

I know...if only my kids didn't eat it all on their own!

I pumped daily, too. And it only took me between 15-30 minutes to get all that with a 2-boobed pump. I have friends who need *hours* to pump just 4 oz., even with a good breast pump. Not me!

Seriously! I could have had a fabulous career as a wet-nurse, doncha' think? I was apparently born to the wrong century! LOL!



LOL! So true! I was used to DS7's Spockian approach to life, so this didn't even surprise me. It was pretty funny though, and it sure makes a good story now.

I just wonder what made him decide he was done, you know? No idea what was going on in that head of his...

I have great admiration for people who BF for 2+ years though. By 12 months, I was sooooo tired of the doubled up breast pads, waking up covered in milk in the middle of the night, leaking if my son cried or I even thought about him too hard...

Really, 3.5 years is AWESOME!!!

I'm with the chicken/egg comment. I think the claim is correlative not cause/effect. In economically advantaged homes, mothers who are choosing to nurse are more educated. So maybe but based on US statistic - you'd have to go into an economically/educationally uniform area.

I nursed my kids but that was my choice. I'm all for individual passions but some things can stay at an individual level. It has stayed nice in this thread but usually it ends up with people making guilted comments that they wished or tried or whatever...

Hey my #1 we nearly starved because our lactation consultant was a nitwit and she's a 99.9er. I often wonder since her behavior is the best if we should have starved all of them :-) kidding but...

sorry if this is grouchy... see my next post...

Nah, I think we're not the sort to get opinionated and icky about breastfeeding. If other people's school choices don't get us up in arms, breastfeeding won't do it.

Nice people here!

(And I'm not all that nice, but I'm all about choices and people doing what works for them. So I'm sure not going to judge!)