Researchers establish a link between how fast a baby grows and its IQ

Jun 20, 2013 19:31 GMT  ·  By
Babies who grow faster than others during their first month of life are smarter, evidence suggests
   Babies who grow faster than others during their first month of life are smarter, evidence suggests

Babies who put on more weight than others during their first few weeks of life are likely to have a higher IQ. More so if their head happens to increase in size at a rather fast pace.

Specialists working with the University of Adelaide in Australia claim to have established a link between how fast a baby grows and its brain power.

They say that children who put on the most weight until they are one month old and who also have fast-growing heads are bound to get better scores in IQ tests that they might be asked to complete when in school.

Daily Mail reports that, after monitoring a total of 13,800 children who all had been born at full term, the scientists found that those who put on some 40% of their birth weight during the first few weeks of life had an IQ significantly higher than that recorded in kids who only put on roughly 15% of their birth weight.

On average, the difference in IQ between these two groups of children was one of about 1.5 points, the same source informs us.

“Overall, new born children who grew faster in the first four weeks had higher IQ scores later in life. Those children who gained the most weight scored especially high on verbal IQ at age 6,” Dr. Lisa Smithers summed up the findings of this investigation.

“Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a new born baby suggests more rapid brain growth,” she further detailed on the matter at hand.

Dr. Lisa Smithers and her colleagues insist that the findings of this investigation should be regarded as one argument in favor of the idea that parents and doctors should make sure the infant gets appropriate nutrition during their first weeks of life.

“We know that many mothers have difficulty establishing breastfeeding in the first weeks of their baby's life.”

“The findings of our study suggest that if infants are having feeding problems, there needs to be early intervention in the management of that feeding,” the specialist explained.