Make Your Baby Smart With Fish Oil

Make Your Baby Smart With Fish Oil

Evidence continues to accumulate regarding the positive effects fish oil has on infants. And because fish oil supplementation of breastfeeding mothers has been found to positively increase the fish oil content of their babies' plasma lipids, researchers theorized that it might also improve visual function and neurodevelopment.

To test their hypothesis, pregnant women who planned to breastfeed exclusively for four months were recruited by newspaper ads, flyers in physicians' offices, and presentations at childbirth classes; inclusion criteria included an age between 18 and 40 years.

Those who qualified to participate in the study were randomly assigned to receive capsules containing either 200 mg of fish oil or vegetable oil (control) for four months after delivering their babies. Results showed:

Fish oil did not have much of an effect on an infant's visual function (after testing at 4 and 8 months).

However, babies whose mothers took the fish oil capsules scored much higher on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development test at age 30 months.

Significance of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development Test

Besides the fact that the Bayley test is considered the gold standard for evaluating very young children, according to the study, a child's Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) at 30 months is a better predictor of development as a child grows up.