English: A sleeping male baby with his arm extended (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Babies who are fed on demand do much better at school reveals a new study. Those babies who are fed to a schedule do less well.
10,419 children born in the early 90s from a range of backgrounds were tracked and tested. These children were tracked until the age of 14. The study showed that those children who were breastfed or bottle fed to demand achieved higher in the tests than those who were scheduled fed. By the age of 8 the demand fed babies IQ was already 4-5 points higher than the scheduled fed babies.
“The difference in IQ levels of around four to five points, though statistically highly significant, would not make a child at the bottom of the class move to the top, but it would be noticeable,” says Dr. Maria Lacovou, who led the study ( The Guardian).
Now let’s throw in the twist; I found it rather interesting that the mothers who had scheduled their babies feeding pattern reported to be more confident and were less tearful. It seems the more routine approach of raising a new baby is better for the mother’s wellbeing.
Lacovou said: “This is significant because the mothers who tried but did not manage to feed to a schedule are similar to schedule-feeding mothers. They tend to be younger, more likely to be single, more likely to be social tenants and likely to be less well-educated or to read to their child. These social characteristics are all understood to increase a child’s likelihood of performing less well. It seems that it is actually having been fed to a schedule, rather than having the type of mother who attempted to feed to a schedule (successfully or not), which makes the difference.”
What Is Demand Feeding?
Feeding on demand simply means feeding your baby the moment you know that it is hungry. Most babies will voice their need for food by crying.
What Is Scheduled Feeding?
Feeding more to a routine and slotting in feeding times into a schedule. In other words making your baby wait for a feed to teach them to go longer in between feeds.
What do you make of this study? Do you think demand feeding shows that babies will do better academically?
About The Real Supermum
Did that with my two and they are doing well in school! They needed feeding every 3 to 4 hours and that’s when they were fed! Dont understand how anyone could keep food away from a tiny baby.
Grace was fed on demand at one point every 1-2 hours. she wil be 3 in nov and is doing very well in her journey the childminder does she is in the ages of 3-4 in development
x
I fed on demand till around 8 weeks and then started to time the feeds and set a pattern, I dont take any of these studies seriously, do what you think is best love your children and dont be a pushy mummy x
I demand fed (breast) my LG which was every 2 hours, then eventually it went to about 4 hours. She’s not long turned 1 so I don’t know yet if she is any brighter due to being demand fed rather than schedule fed. People say she is clever for her age – but is that because Im with her 24/7, talk to her constantly and talk to her like a person not a baby? Only time will tell I guess!
reanne would go 3-4hours so she was kinda scedual but if she wanted it earlier she got it.. kaydi normally goes average of 4hours.. if she cries after 2 and half shes offered water and settles..if its 3 and half shes fed..normally i make the bottle if shes not woken after 4 hours and its ready and waiting ..she onl ever normally has to wait while a bottle is made at some points, if iv not realised shes almsot due x
I fed Kai on demand and he got into he’s own routine .. I was the one that adjusted to my baby and it works perfect for us xxx
I breastfed my son on demand, he’s 2 so don’t know yet how he’ll be doing at school. To be honest I don’t think it has anything to do with when or how a baby is fed I think its to do with the intelligence of the parent and their attitude towards teaching their children. Xx
When my eldest was born in 1998, the done thing was to feed every 4 hours. Not sooner, not later. When I look back, the stress it caused us trying to stop her crying for 2 hours as her feed wasn’t due was not worth it. So much for the report that this makes for a more relaxed mummy!
With my last two, born 2008 and 2010, I fed on demand. Not because it was suggested to me, just because it was natural to me. I also BF which I didn’t do with my eldest as she was prem and wouldn’t take to it. Being able to feed on demand had its drawbacks too as my hungry babies could often feed every hour which is draining for a new mum. However, I carried on until they were almost 6 months. When weaning started, BF stopped
I would say each to their own and do what works for you but for my part, demand feeding is less stressful even if a bit more tiring
I think there’s a perfectly good explanation for this. Just think about your state of mind when you don’t get something you feel you really need. Even most adults get angry, frustrated and anxious. These are feelings that cloud your clear thinking and make you perform worse in different tasks. So it seems that there’s now scientific proof that babies are just too young to be taught discipline, even in eating
I fed in demand when he was a new born but he soon got himself in to a routine x
i fed all of my children on demand and they are all doing well academically. feeding on demand is all good when new born, they soon get themselves into a routine. i think the study is circumstantial, whose to say it isnt the air that they breathe fro a different area or because they have brown hair. yes demand fed babies are more attached as they at first get the attention when they want it. you get out what you put in xxx
both my kids were fed on demand only trouble is my daughter is 4 now and still constantly demands food all day
i demand fed both my two if a baby is hungry it shouldnt be made to wait we wouldnt like being made to wait i know i definatly wouldnt haha xx
i fed my son on demand until he was about 3 months old,then we put him into a routine, jayden much prefers the routine
x
both my girls naturally needed a feed every 4 hours, is this demand or scheduled?? bonus really! x
my daughter wanted a feed every 3-4 hours, shes 3 in november and shes alot smarter than me and oh she knows how to work an iphone better than me lol xx
mine were demand fed, but kinda got themselves into a routine.x
my dude was demand fed just because he was so erratic with his feeding. after 2 months he got in to his own routine tho
i demand fed both my babys from birth and by 3-4 weeks they were both having a regular amount every 4 hours and sleeping 6 hours through the night i may be a lucky mummy with lazy babys tho :p my one year old will sleep in until 12am if i let her and she goes to bed at 7pm at night and sleeps all night!! thats 17 hours sleep!! i very rarely do tho as my oldest turns into a alarm clock come 8.30am lol xx
All my kiddies were demand fed… By a week or so they seemed to have a routine of 3-4 hours.. My 1st was always being feb it seemed, but only for a few days he soon fell into a good routine, then my last 1, she was bottle demand every 3hours from birth she weaned late tho but I would say she’s or advanced than my boys were… Dunno if its just a girly thing, she’s toilet training now and she’s 19months old, my 3 year old son just came out of nappies a month ago…
With tyler I would feed him every 3-4 hours. If after 2.5 hours he was starting to get hungry I would try take his mind off it till 3 hours. I found that if I gave him it at 2.5 hours he would then have less of the bottle and then wouldn’t go as long between feeds creating a cycle! X