INFANT-FEEDING AND PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

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.