ArticleEuropean journal of nutrition2020
Nutrients or nursing? Understanding how breast milk feeding affects child cognition.
Article in European journal of nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of breastfeeding and neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infant.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Measuring Mothers' Viewpoints of Breast Pump Usage.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- An Integrative Review of Exclusive Breast Milk Expression.Journal of midwifery & women's healthPooled it
- Impact of a Nutrient Formulation on Longitudinal Myelination, Cognition, and Behavior from Birth to 2 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Nutrients · 2023Trial
- WHO exclusive breastfeeding recommendation and cognitive development in Germany.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Associations of feeding and delivery modes with the risk of otitis media with effusion in children: A cross-sectional study.Medicine · 2025Observational
- Article
- Comparative Analysis of Breastfeeding and Infant Formulas: Short- and Long-Term Impacts on Infant Nutrition and Health.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Differences in Neurocognitive Development Between Children Who Had Had No Breast Milk and Those Who Had Had Breast Milk for at Least 6 Months.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Comparison of the Effect of Distance and Face-to-face Breastfeeding Education on Female Nursing Students' Knowledge: A Quasi-experimental Study.International journal of community based nursing and midwifery · 2025Article
- Article
- Association between infant breastfeeding practices and timing of peak height velocity: A nationwide longitudinal survey in Japan.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- Predictors of Human Milk Feeding and Direct Breastfeeding for Infants with Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease: Machine Learning Analysis of the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative Registry.The Journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Nutrient trajectories during infancy and their associations with childhood neurodevelopment.European journal of nutrition · 2023Article
- Asia-Pacific consensus statement on integrated 24-hour activity guidelines for the early years.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Review
- Unraveling the effects of maternal breastfeeding duration and exclusive breast milk on children's cognitive abilities in early childhood.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Impact of Early Nutrient Intake and First Year Growth on Neurodevelopment of Very Low Birth Weight Newborns.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Increased Breastfeeding Proportion Is Associated with Improved Gross Motor Skills at 3-5 Years of Age: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2022Observational
- Article
- Research on the Effect of Nursing Methods for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Based on Comprehensive Nursing Intervention.Computational and mathematical methods in medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo explore the associations between type of milk feeding (the "nutrients") and mode of breast milk feeding (the "nursing") with child cognition.
methodsHealthy children from the GUSTO (Growing Up in Singapore Toward healthy Outcomes) cohort participated in repeated neurodevelopmental assessments between 6 and 54 months. For "nutrients", we compared children exclusively bottle-fed according to type of milk received: formula only (n = 296) vs some/all breast milk (n = 73). For "nursing", we included only children who were fully fed breast milk, comparing those fed directly at the breast (n = 59) vs those fed partially/completely by bottle (n = 63).
resultsCompared to infants fed formula only, those who were bottle-fed breast milk demonstrated significantly better cognitive performance on both the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Third Edition) at 2 years [adjusted mean difference (95% CI) 1.36 (0.32, 2.40)], and on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (Second Edition) at 4.5 years [7.59 (1.20, 13.99)]. Children bottle-fed breast milk also demonstrated better gross motor skills at 2 years than those fed formula [1.60 (0.09, 3.10)]. Among infants fully fed breast milk, those fed directly at the breast scored higher on several memory tasks compared to children bottle-fed breast milk, including the deferred imitation task at 6 months [0.67 (0.02, 1.32)] and relational binding tasks at 6 [0.41 (0.07, 0.74)], 41 [0.67 (0.04, 1.29)] and 54 [0.12 (0.01, 0.22)] months.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that nutrients in breast milk may improve general child cognition, while nursing infants directly at the breast may influence memory.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.