The relationship between breastfeeding and speech development was exam
ined to determine what duration (if any) of breastfeeding is associate
d with better performance on a measure of phonologic development. Twen
ty-nine children aged 36-48 months and their parents were recruited fr
om preschools to serve as subjects. The children's durations of exclus
ive breastfeeding ranged from 0 (always bottle fed) to 6 months. Phono
logic development was assessed using an instrument known as the Percen
tage of Consonants Correct (PCC) [12]. Feeding histories were obtained
by retrospective interviews with parents. Parents and teachers also m
ade ratings of children's speech and total communication on a 5-point
scale. This study fails to replicate earlier researchers' findings of
an association between breastfeeding and phonologic development. No ev
idence was found of an association between any duration of either excl
usive or partial breastfeeding and PCC scores. Pearson r correlations
between parents' and teachers' ratings and PCC scores were weak. Resul
ts are discussed in comparison with previous reports of a correlation
between breastfeeding and phonologic development.