[highwater]

Originally Posted by realcity

However I have a problem with those one-off, snap-shot stats. They are like that stats that claim 'babies that are breastfed grow to be smarter adults'. This may be true, but not from the breast feeding alone. The number crunchers fail to see other environment factors. Such as, perhaps the mother that choose to breast feed is more likely to be a more nuturing, caring, selfless mother, that devotes time and sacrifices... result.... a better mother? Whom likely has an equally present father, provider, and stable family life. I can also assume the baby formula user is a low-income, young single mother that puts their baby on formula so she can get back to her desired lifestyle, or the super-successful lawyer mom that takes 6 weeks off for her baby then it's daycare and formula. Is it the actual breast milk making babies smarter? I think not.

Waaay off topic, but the study you you're citing took those factors into consideration. There is a chemical in breastmilk that can't be duplicated in formula that helps all those little neural pathways form. The physical closeness helps with brain development as well.