The Nemours Foundation states that babies should be breastfed on demand, or, whenever they are hungry. In addition to keeping infants happy and healthy, this action may also be boosting these newborns' IQs.

Researchers from the University of Essex and the University of Oxford recently conducted a study that found babies who are fed on demand often have higher IQs and greater academic success when they are older, the Press Association reported.

Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, the researchers were able to look at mothers who fed their babies on demand, and those who adhered to a schedule. When these infants reached 8 years of age, they had IQs that were four or five points above their peers who were not instantly fed when hungry.

"To give a sense of the kind of difference that four or five higher IQ points might make, in a class of thirty children, for example, a child who is right in the middle of the class, ranked at fifteenth, might be, with an improvement of four or five IQ points, ranked higher, at about eleventh or twelfth in the class," said lead researcher Maria Iacovou, as quoted by Fox News.

If parents are curious to see what impact feeding their children on demand had on their cognitive abilities, they may want to have them complete an IQ test for kids.