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Infants who are born small for gestation age (SGA) have been found to
have poorer school performance than infants born at appropriate
weight. 220 Scandinavian infants (from Norway and Sweden) who were
small for gestational age were studied as part of a larger study on
infant growth and development. The developmental test scores of SGA
infants who were breastfed were compared to the scores of appropriate
for gestational age infants. Infants were tested at 13 months using
the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and as children at 5 years of
age using the Weschsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence.
At 13 months of age, there was a difference of 3.3 points (-0.8-7.4)
between the infants who had been breastfed for > 12 weeks compared to
those breastfed for < 12 weeks. At 5 years of age the difference
between the groups was 5.0 points (0.7-9.3) for Total Weschler IQ.
Both of these analyses controlled for maternal education, maternal IQ,
smoking, gender and growth. There was no difference between the
groups on motor scores. At 5 years of age, the IQ scores of the SGA
infants breastfed for > 12 weeks were no different than the scores of
all children born AGA (
Rao, 2002
).
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