Breastfeeding increases an infant’s intelligence - specialist doctors

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

“Infants who are breastfed during first six months of their life are much more intelligent than the infants who are fed with milk powder.

‘The infants who are brought up only on breast milk score more marks in IQ tests than others,” specialist doctors said.

During a special seminar held at the Health Education Bureau to mark the ‘National Breast Feeding Week’, specialist doctors said a survey conducted by the WHO found that the infants who were fed with breast milk during the first few weeks of their life are much more intelligent than infants who were not fed with mother’s milk. “Breastfeeding increases an infant’s intelligence by ten points. Milk powder can cause many diseases in infants. Wheezing, stomach aches, ear infections and Vitamin A deficiency are some of them. Malnutrition can be caused due to the limited number of feeding times or the lack of thickness in prepared milk. Infants who are overfed with milk powder can be over weight Milk powder sometimes contain germs, “they said.

“Breastfeeding reduce s the risk of mothers getting breast cancer and ovarian cancer. This is an added advantage for breastfeeding mothers in addition to having a healthy child, “they added.