title: Breastfeeding is associated with improved child cognitive development: a population-based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the association between breastfeeding and child cognitive development in term and preterm children.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data on white singleton children from the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study. Children were grouped according to breastfeeding duration. Results were stratified by gestational age at birth: 37 to 42 weeks (term, n = 11,101), and 28 to 36 weeks (preterm, n = 778). British Ability Scales tests were administered at age 5 years (naming vocabulary, pattern construction, and picture similarities subscales).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean scores for all subscales increased with breastfeeding duration. After adjusting for confounders, there was a significant difference in mean score between children who were breastfed and children who were never breastfed: in term children, a two-point increase in score for picture similarities (when breastfed ≥ 4 months) and naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥ 6 months); in preterm children, a 4-point increase for naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥ 4 months) and picture similarities (when breastfed ≥ 2 months) and a 6-point increase for pattern construction (when breastfed ≥ 2 months). These differences suggest that breastfed children will be 1 to 6 months ahead of children who were never breastfed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In white, singleton children in the United Kingdom, breastfeeding is associated with improved cognitive development, particularly in children born preterm.
authors.affiliation: National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. maria.quigley@npeu.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Quigley
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hockley
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carson
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Mary J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Renfrew
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sacker
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male