Vinutha Muktamath

Breast Feeding and Cognitive Development Vinutha Muktamath

This book is about breast feeding and cognitive development. It deals with the importance of breast feeding, short term and long term duration of breast feeding, nutritional factors of breast milk, breast milk and infant formulas, its effect on a child's cognitive and psychological as well as psychobiological development. Many scientific pieces of evidence suggest that breast feeding has a crucial role in a child's cognitive development, academic achievement, and scholastic abilities. Breast milk constituents promote healthy neural growth and white matter structure in the brain and cognitive performance. Breast feeding advanced neurological development resulting in improved cognitive performance which in turn supported upward social mobility and protected against downward social mobility. It also improves premature infant's attention and arousal regulation, leading to improved cognitive development. The booklet on 'Breast Feeding and Cognitive Development' will help in improving the knowledge and understanding of the importance of breast feeding and its effect on the child. It is hoped that the book helps the parents and family members to reduce ignorance towards breast feeding.