I am sure most of us were, and some do not know sh*. So it turns out that researchers claim that kids breast fed are healthier, and even smarter than someone that was not breast fed. I personally was, but I wont believe for a second that it would increase your I.Q. by so many points against someone that was not breast fed. Those exams are biased anyway in my opinion. Breastfeeding promotes bonding between mother and baby.
I was breast fed, as were my siblings. We all have high IQ's, but I think many factors came into play there (including my parents' genes). Breast feeding (probably) helps to insure certain nutrients are passed along to the child, which can help with brain development, but it is by no means the only determining factor, and likely not a major one. (That's not to say a child shouldn't get every boost it can when starting out.)
I have 7 nieces and nephews who were not, for the most part, breast fed, and they have high IQ's as well, for the most part, (though I sometimes wonder...) Laughing
But having a high IQ and being an intelligent person are different beasts altogether. Intelligence involves the application of knowledge, whereas IQ is only an aptitude for learning (absorbing information), even in the most generous of definitions.
And the scope of any such test is limited by default. Even our most advanced biological and psychological sciences understand so very little of the human brain and how it functions, regardless of what "we" think we know as the race of humans.
IQ tests (and the PSAT, SAT, ACT, etc.), after all, were created by man, so they are just as flawed as their maker. (This is undoubtedly true for all the various tests that "they" say quantify learning ability and intelligence.)
I have yet to meet the test of this type that I could not manipulate to my own ends, even as a child (much to my teachers horror). Of all my teachers, throughout the years, only one figured out it was just a game for me - that I was just playing a part on a stage. (It was strangely fitting that he was the drama coach. He also taught advanced science.)
The qualifications for the gifted program in our school system initially meant top 5% of the nation (USA) via IQ and other test scores. This eventually was bumped up to the top 2% in the nation.
BTW, I had no problems with making either of these cutoffs, according to my test scores alone. Some other students were not able to meet the higher standard (even after being allowed to do a secondary "makeup" IQ test) and thus were "dropped" from the "gifted" program. (Like that isn't a way to give a child a complex. "Oh you're pretty smart, but you're just not smart enough... not anymore, buck up, Little Derek.")
I had my first IQ test at ~age 5 (around kindergarten). After my elders (teachers, administrators, etc) finished cooing over how high my scores were, I was shuttled off to be tested more... (presumably, so that people could understand how my brain worked.)
I spent the majority of my secondary school life in "gifted" programs, being periodically re-tested. In these so-called "gifted" programs, I was surrounded mainly by idiots with purportedly high IQ's, but an incredible lack of actual intelligence. I say mainly, because it was not an absolute - not everyone was a blooming idiot.
I witnessed no evidence of the supposed intelligence of most of the people in the "gifted" program, and I don't say this to be mean-spirited. (I am only reflecting upon my youthful observations that these people seemed to struggle with the yoke that had been put upon them, and the academic merits they were expected to achieve effortlessly.)
I did however, see that a few of them were the children of "prominent" people, and the like. (Let's just say that the methodology for selecting students for the "gifted" program/s in our school was my first experience with "affirmative action.") I suppose it meant bragging rights for the parents to be able to crow that their child was in the "gifted" program. Or to say that all their children had been, when all children are not created (academically) equal even within one family.
Needless to say, I began to question "what exactly" IQ tests were supposingly measuring at a very early age - much to my various teachers' chagrin. Mr. Green
The whole IQ, intelligence, and genetic predisposition arguments and discussions are a hot topic right now (particularly as some disciplines are currently trying to qualify intelligence through DNA classification), and it's one that is particularly close to my heart, as routine testing and prodding was something I had to live with throughout my childhood/secondary school years. (Once I became an adult, I started to refuse to be a guinea pig, as it were, even for the benefit of greater scientific knowledge.)
The "breast feeding gives your baby an IQ boost" is an interesting tactic to "push" women into breast feeding though. I should hope the bond with your child factor is a nice enough aside in its own right.
In the end I guess I should be happy that my mother both breast fed me, and was an intelligent, caring woman. She gave me every possible boost she could provide. And I owe much of who I am, and the person I've become, to her.
Learn more about this author, Bala India.
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