The Association Between Duration of Breastfeeding and Adult Intelligence

Abstract

A number of studies have suggested a positive association between breastfeeding and cognitive and intellectual development in early and middle childhood.^1,2 However, studies of correlations between childhood and adult intelligence show that intelligence is quite unstable during the first decade of life, particularly in early childhood.³ Consequently, it is possible that exclusively or predominantly bottlefed children may catch up and ultimately achieve the same intelligence level as children who were breastfed.