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Breast Milk and Intellectual Development among Preschool Children attending a Rural Family Healthcare Unit, El Bagour District, Menoufia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract: Background:There are several potential mechanisms linking breastfeeding with enhanced neurodevelopment in infancy. Breast milk contains long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids which are structural lipids critical for retina and cortical brain development in early life.Objectives:The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between breastfeeding and the intellectual development. Methods:A retrospective study involving 350 preschool children( aged two years and six months till the age of five years) attending Kafr El-Khadra family health unit ,El Bagour district, Menoufia governorate, Egypt during the period of data collection (three months). They were subjected to a semistructured questionnaire from the mothers and their intellectual development were assessed using Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale questionnaire for children 2013(WPPSI) Results:This study revealed that out of 350 studied preschool children, 154 children (44%) had an average intelligence quotient (IQ) while 4 children (1.1%) had an extremely low IQ and one child (0.3%) had very superior IQ. There were high statistically significant difference in IQ of studied children as regard exclusivity of breastfeeding and types of feeding either artificially or breast feeding (P value <0.001). Also, this study shows that there was statistically significant association between duration of exclusive breastfeeding and IQ of the studied children (P value <0.001). Conclusion:There is a significant association between breast milk and intellectual development of children. Therefore, the support of breastfeeding should be seriously viewed as a major public health issue.