breastfeeding is positively associated with performance in intelligence tests in childhood in such as subjects who had been breastfed had an average gain of 3.44 IQ points .
Specifically, for each additional month of exclusive breastfeeding, child verbal IQ was 0.8 points higher, translating to a benefit of almost 5 points over 6 months, the recommended duration of exclusive breastfeeding.
Research shows that breastfeeding can increase growth of white matter in a baby’s brain by 20-30%.
Exclusively breastfed babies show more brain growth before age 2 than formula-fed babies or those fed both ways, according to research.