The Power of the Breast

By Won Kim

There was a recent article that highlighted a study that seemed to clearly show a correlation to breast-feeding and smarter children. The study found that "children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests."

Obviously, some yellow flags of skepticism will be raised as one has to ask, does breast milk really work like steroids for the infant brain? Or at least, that's what I'm wondering. In any case, the study paid special attention to de-emphasize the impact of the mother's upbringing by randomly assigning which mothers would be encouraged to breast feed regardless of the mothers' characteristics (personality, income level, education background, etc.). The study group was large (14,000 babies), and half of the group were assigned to mothers who would exclusively breast-feed with encouragement from local hospitals and clinics. The other half of the group was comprised of mothers that received no special encouragement.

The study monitored the children for more than 6 years, and it was documented that children who were part of the group that was encouraged to breast feed exclusively did much better academically and scored noticeably better on IQ tests.

Now, this is where the article makes one really profound point that is relevant to us dads. The article suggested how the act of breast feeding actually made the mother more invested to the baby. "It could even be that because breast-feeding takes longer, the mother is interacting more with the baby, talking with the baby, soothing the baby," stated Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children's Hospital. He also implied in the article that mothers who breast feed "tend to be more invested in their babies ... tend to interact with them more closely ...the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more."

Now, let me really go out on a limb here and assume that most of you reading this article are physically unable to breast feed (although some of us dads will not deny the fact that we do possess man boobs). Not only that, you may also have children who are too old to be breast feeding-quick tangent, if you're kid is 5 years old and still making fuel stops to the chest region of his/her mother, it might be a good time to start a forum conversation with the question, "When is my kid too old to still be on the boob?" In any case, back to the main point, which is, how the act of breast feeding should remind us of what is most essential for our children, which is quality time of interaction.

The article on breast feeding seems to point out again and again that the real power in the breast feeding is not just the nutrient milk, but the strong connection that is made with the child. I still recall the nights hearing my wife shuffle over to the crib to pick up our infant son for a time of breast feeding. It'll be 2 a.m. in the morning, and my wife will be gently whispering to my son or singing to my son or simply doting on him. And in response, you can hear the cooing (and the sucking) of my little boy. Of course, there were moments where my wife would simply state the obvious, "Come on EJ, mommy's exhausted, just take it," but more often than not, there was a deep connection being made literally 5-7 times a day.

I'm no mathematician, but interacting with anybody a few times a day has to have a profound impact on that relationship. This makes me ask myself, am I creating space in my life to have meaningful times of interaction with my kids? I'm all for sitting down on a couch and catching a ballgame once in a while with my son, but there's usually not that much interaction going on. Actually, there are times when I'm participating in an activity of his choice, that although physically I'm there, emotionally I'm still thinking about the project due at the end of the week. In other words, I'm not truly interacting with my kid.

I wonder what kind of impact I would have on my sons if I connected with them on a daily basis. Whether it be reading their favorite book or doing the airplane one more time or just talking with them as we share a snack break together, I know there are plenty of available moments. It's just a matter of me creating that space to fit them in. Heck, that project can always wait another hour, right?

Come to think of it, producing the next Einstein or Newton would be nice, but I'm kind of looking forward to simply eating some Cheetoh's with my kid.