The effects of infant feeding on speech quality
Broad, F.E.
New Zealand Medical Journal 76(482): 28-31
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-8446 PMID: 4508379 Document Number: 45027
Children studied were of European origin and aged 5 or 6 years at 1 state and 1 parish school in Putaruru, New Zealand. They were 67 who had been bottle fed (including 11 breast fed for from 10 to 21 days), 21 breast fed for 4 to 7 weeks and 46 breast fed for longer. Clarity of speech and tone were significantly better with breast than with bottle feeding for the whole group and for the boys, not the girls; clarity was significantly better for girls than boys but tone was as good for either sex. Confidence in speaking did not differ significantly with feeding method or with sex. Reading ability was significantly greater with breast than with bottle feeding for boys, not for girls or for the whole group, and significantly greater for girls than for boys. The speech fault of substituting F for Th did not differ with feeding method but was significantly more frequent in boys than in girls; that of substituting W for R was significantly less frequent with breast than with bottle feeding for boys, not for girls, and not different between sexes. Of 15 substandard speakers 12 were bottle fed and 11 were boys.It was considered that girls matured faster than boys and that breast feeding accelerated development of the neuromuscular mechanism used for speech, whether by the act of sucking or by differences in composition of human and cow's milk.