Breastfed kids more intelligent than ‘formula’ babies, says lawmaker

The next time your child comes home with a failing grade in school, don’t yell, "bobo!" Weep instead, because the culprit could be the breast milk substitute or infant formula he was fed with during his infancy.

Citing studies, a congresswoman who advocates breastfeeding said yesterday breastfed children are more intelligent than those who grew up on infant formulas.

"In a study done in 2005 by researchers from the North Carolina University on the cognitive development of Filipino children, it was found out that children who have been breastfed for 12 months to 18 months are far more intelligent than those who have been breastfed for less than six months," said Rep. Risa Hontiveros Baraquel of the party-list group Akbayan.

She said mothers, too, benefit from breastfeeding.

"Breastfeeding leads to the spacing of births. It also reduces bleeding after delivery and obesity. It lessens the risk of contracting chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, breast and ovarian cancer, and even osteoporosis," she said, quoting a study by the World Health Organization (WHO).

She pointed out that children fed with breast milk also have better resistance to diseases. There is evidence that breastfeeding "could prevent over three-fourths of deaths in early infancy and 37 percent in second year in life," she stressed.

She added that in Bangladesh, partially breastfed children were twice at risk of dying from any cause compared with exclusively breastfed infants, while in Mexico, infants fed with formulas suffer from sickness three times as long and twice as often compared to breastfed children.

"Locally, in a cohort study done in Cebu, the risk of death due to diarrhea, a leading cause in under-five infant mortality, is eight to 10 times greater among infants who were not breastfed," she said.

Baraquel and Akbayan are pushing for the approval of House Bill 5314, which seeks to promote breastfeeding and regulate the advertising and promotion of breast milk substitutes.