Results of a study published in the British Medical Journal suggest that breastfeeding is associated with improved cognitive development.

In what was one of the largest observational studies to date, researchers from the United Kingdom  set out to determine the relationship between breastfeeding and child cognitive development and investigate whether the relationship varied with gestational age.

Methods
Participating children included 11,801 individuals. Subjects were grouped according to their gestational age at birth: term (37-42 weeks), moderately preterm (33-36 weeks), and very preterm (28-32 weeks), and breastfeeding status: breastfed at least once compared to never breastfed, and duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding. At age 5 the children were tested using a validated tool—the British Ability Scales (BAS) test.

Results
After adjusting for confounders, any amount of breastfeeding significantly associated with a higher mean BAS naming vocabulary score in children born at term, with a stronger effect in children born moderately preterm or very preterm. This effect increased with each additional month of breastfeeding.

Take Home Message
Because this is an observational study, inferences regarding cause and effect cannot be made. In addition, study authors caution that more analysis is needed to rule out the effects of parenting and child care factors. However, the data strongly suggests that where breastfeeding is concerned, some is better than none, and more is better than less.