Story highlights Study finds some short-term cognitive benefit to breastfeedingDifferences between breastfed and non-breastfed children lost by age five(CNN) While the medical benefits of breastfeeding for helping newborns fight infections and helping pre-term infants get stronger are fairly well established, the long-term impact is much less so. that breastfeeding has little impact on long-term cognitive development and behavior. While new mothers may debate what they believe to be long-term benefits, a new study published in the journal Pediatrics findsthat breastfeeding has little impact on long-term cognitive development and behavior. The study followed 7,478 Irish children born full term, from the time they were 9 months old. At three, the children's parents were asked to fill out questionnaires evaluating vocabulary and problem-solving skills to assess cognition and behavior.

Source: CNN March 27, 2017 07:52 UTC