Two Great Places to Eat

Reuters has positive news about breastfeeding.

Breastfed babies seem more likely to do well at high school and to go on to attend college than infants raised on a bottle, according to a new U.S. study.

Makes me want to go back to college just to have an excuse.

Professors Joseph Sabia from the American University and Daniel Rees from the University of Colorado Denver based their research on 126 children from 59 families, comparing siblings who were breastfed as infants to others who were not.
By comparing siblings, the study was able to account for the influence of a variety of difficult-to-measure factors such as maternal intelligence and the quality of the home environment.

That's important, because mere correlation doesn't establish causation. Without this information, it would be reasonable say, "Perhaps the kind of parents who will help their kids do will in school are also the kind that would breastfeed."

The study, published in the Journal of Human Capital, found that an additional month of breastfeeding was associated with an increase in high school grade point averages of 0.019 points and an increase in the probability of college attendance of 0.014.

Hmmm. Isn't that a little small?

"But this is just a start. Much work remains to be done to establish a definitive causal link."

Translation: "Gimme more $$$ for research!" I'm not saying they shouldn't get that money. It could be very worthwhile. Or, maybe we're already at the point where all the mothers who can be persuaded to breastfeed are already breastfeeding.

I'm vaguely aware that there is a huge controversy over this subject. Mothers who can't breastfeed, for whatever reason, feel like they are being attacked when they see articles like this. Some studies (perhaps even some not funded by formula manufacturers) say that it doesn't make a difference, or that formula is actually better. There are products (and thus commercial interests) catering to both ways of feeding infants.

My wife is convinced that it does make a difference, and she has shown high levels of dedication to breastfeeding. I'm sure a lot of other women would have given up if they had been in her shoes (or bra).

I was breastfed. I'm convinced it explains a lot about be, aside from academics.

One of the things I say to my children as they are in the womb is, "There are two great places to eat out here!" Hence the title of this entry.