Too few Thai babies are breastfed

Without wanting to take a position, I would like to point out that this is one of many, many studies and that the results do not always agree. The reason why those results differ is simple. In order to get a responsible result, an enormous number of participants are needed so that all other causes can also be ruled out.

If in a smaller group of breast-drinking children there happens to be an excess of children who are already very smart or have poorer hearing, you cannot point to breastfeeding as the cause of their smartness or poor hearing. With a very large number of participants who are selected in a statistically responsible manner, you can avoid this kind of noise. But… those studies are almost impossible to do and incredibly expensive.

I deliberately mention smartness because there was once an assumption that breastfed children would have more IQ points. Another study has referred this to the land of fables. It would not surprise me that this noise has arisen in this case because in the West it is precisely the highly educated, healthy living mothers who choose to breastfeed. If these intelligent mothers also have an intelligent partner, it is more likely that their children will also be intelligent. The difference in IQ points has already been given to the child at conception. If these breast-drinking children are then compared with bottle-drinking children of low-educated, less intelligent parents, it can lead to wrong conclusions.

NB I have never had anything to do with the baby milk powder industry now or in the past. Breastfeeding seems to me to be the most appropriate and cheapest form of nutrition, but since (for a variety of reasons) not every mother is able to breastfeed, I refrain from any judgment whatsoever.