Is there a difference in intelligence between breast-fed and formula-fed babies?
There is no way to know whether a baby will have a higher IQ if he is breast-fed. There are many intelligent people in the world who were fed infant formula, and there is no way to know whether they would have been even smarter if they had been breast-fed. Breast milk does contain long-chain poly-unsaturated fatty acids, which are important in brain development, particularly the brain development of pre-term babies. Infant formula doesn’t contain these fatty acids. Tips for Building Baby’s Brain Whether you breast-feed or bottle-feed your baby, make feeding time a special time! Research shows that you can enhance your baby’s brain development. Here are some ways to do this: • Talk to your baby. Babies whose parents talk to them often have larger vocabularies than other children. • Hold your baby when feeding him. The baby’s vision is most clear at about 10 inches–the distance between your eyes and hers when feeding. • Respond to your baby’s signals. Babies who turn away from the breas
