Why doctors are wrong about solids

Babies who are exclusively breastfed for the first three months at least – and sometimes for the first 12 months – have better cognitive abilities and general intelligence by the time they are six. Compared with children who were fed solids early on, breastfed babies registered far higher scores for verbal IQ, performance IQ and general IQ when they were tested at six-and-a-half years. Researchers made the discovery when they assessed the cognitive development of 13,889 children who were exclusively breastfed for a prolonged period. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2008; 65: 578-84