YOUR DEVELOPMENTSome parental dilemmas
T To breastfeed or not? Breastfeeding is associated with a range of
physical and mental health-benefits for your baby and, if you can,
the World Health Organization recommends sticking to breast-
feeding for up to six months. However, claims that breast milk boosts
a child’s IQ are rather more controversial. A study by University
of Edinburgh researchers, published in 2006, found the usual link
between breastfeeding and children’s IQ, but showed that this
link mostly disappeared when family background was taken into
account – that is, breastfed children tend to come from more advan-
taged backgrounds and to have mothers with higher IQs, which is
probably why they too end up with a high IQ.
T Is there any drawback to raising a child bilingually? There are
anecdotal reports that children raised to speak two languages
show delays in their language acquisition relative to monolingual
children. Such claims are largely unsupported by any scientific
evidence, and what is certain is that any possible delays are only
temporary. By contrast, there is ample evidence that a bilingual
upbringing is advantageous. To take one example, a 2009 study by
researchers at the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy
found that babies raised in a bilingual home had superior cognitive
control – they were better able to unlearn a puppet’s prior location
and then learn its new position.
T What kind of pushchair should I buy? Most pushchairs or baby
buggies face away, so that your child is pointing away from you.
However, the first psychological study of pushchairs, published in
2008, found that there could be advantages to having a buggy in
which your child faces towards you. Developmental psychologist
Suzanne Zeedyk of Dundee University found that parents talked to
their infants twice as much when they were in a “toward” position –
a good thing considering that parent-child interaction is known to
be beneficial for language development. Moreover, the children in
toward buggies were more likely to fall asleep and showed reduced
stress-levels.
T Imaginary friends Experts and lay people alike used to think that
for a child to have an imaginary friend was a bad sign, indicating
social awkwardness. Today, psychologists recognize that not only are
imaginary friends incredibly common – about half of all kids have
one or more – but that children who have them are just as sociable
and popular as those who don’t. In fact, having an imaginary friend
could come with advantages. A study by Gabriel Trionfi and Elaine
Reese, for example, found that children with imaginary friends often
have superior narrative skills, perhaps because of the practice they
get describing them to curious family and friends.